Post 250!

It really bugs me when I complete an article and Windows decides it wants to crash on me and I lose the work. I always thought that blogger had an automatic save but I guess the one time I needed it, it decided not to work. Oh well, there are worse things that can happen to someone.

I do apologize for not writing yesterday, but since I am writing my second article for today it seems to have worked itself out.

When I did log into Blogger today I noticed that this would be our 250th article. With over 120,000 hits to the site since I began it almost a year ago we are extremely pleased at how many people now know about ADA deficient SCID and gene therapy. Thank- you to everyone who has populated this site since its conception last March.

We confirmed our flight information with Air Canada yesterday and promptly sent the information off to the team in Italy so they know when we are arriving in Milan. I must say that I am extremely impressed with the service we have obtained from Air Canada. My wife has been able to liaison with someone on a constant basis and as a result they are extremely aware and accommodating of our situation. It does look like we will be flying in the bulkhead seats so that there is no one sitting in front of us. In addition, they will have someone waiting for us when we arrive at the airport so that we may be assured that Parker will be around as few people as possible and the chance of catching anything at the airport is decreased. Of course, Parker will remain in his "Bubble" while at the airport.

For the longest time I have been checking the "TV Guide" to find out when the Seinfeld, Bubble Boy episode would be playing on television so I could tape it. Finally, a couple of nights ago I noticed that it was playing so I now have a copy of it. I had mentioned in my first article that this is my only knowledge that this disease existed before Parker was diagnosed with it. So, I am extremely glad to finally have a copy of it. The right sidebar has a copy of the script if anyone is interested in reading about it.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we have been trying to get Parker to eat more meat at his meals. Two nights ago, I made Red Thai Curry after being inspired by a friend who had made it for me and my wife a week earlier. My wife had requested that I sautee a couple of pieces of chicken for Parker before beginning dinner. As a result, Parker had minced chicken and applesauce for dinner and lunch. There was quite a bit of chicken in each of the two meals and Parker ate every last drop. Then, last night we decided to have Parker try fish for the first time. I cooked up a battered haddock for Parker, then removed most of the batter to reveal enough white flaky haddock to fill a palm and a half of Parker's hand. I was very surprised to see that Parker gobbled the fish faster than I had seen him eat any form of meat.

During Parker's feedings we do try to let him interact with his food whenever possible. That said, it is difficult at times since we want to make sure that he is getting enough nutrients at each meal and that we don't have a complete disaster in the kitchen. With the amount of cleaning we (my wife) do we don't want to be cleaning the kitchen floors three times a day. You can see by the images that we do let Parker have some fun with his food once in a while.

Lastly, I decided to get working on getting us Visas for our trip. If you are from Canada among some other countries you may stay in Italy for 90 days without a Visa. I called the Italian consolidate yesterday to get information about obtaining a Visa for six months but they were closed. I will call today so that we may try and obtain the Visas tomorrow when we are downtown at Sick Kids.