No More Isolation

It has been some time since I sat here at the computer and wrote an article for the blog. Things have been quite crazy lately and with that I have found myself unable to find the time or the energy to write. That said, today when I awoke I did so with a new found energy. Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I left the isolation room at the San Rafaelle to begin the next phase of our life here in Italy.

The past few days we have waited in anticipation for Monday morning when Parker would give blood and we would be able to find out what his white blood count and neutrophils would be. They had taken his blood on Friday and his numbers had dropped slightly one more time. His neutrophils were still over 500 but were far from being 1000.

On Sunday, we requested that Parker have his blood taken at six in the morning on Monday so that we would have the results back sooner rather than later. By nine on Monday, Parker's white blood cells had reached 1400 and from my data I was able to estimate Parker's neutrophil count to be either 900 or 1000. I was correct and by eleven we had found out that his neutrophils had once again reached the 1000 mark.

We then packed up our room in anticipation that we would be leaving in a few hours. Although it did take a little bit of persuading to let us leave yesterday we did make our way back to the residence by two in the afternoon. They were hoping that we could stay for a couple of more days so they could track Parker's white blood cells but felt comfortable with us returning for a blood test on Thursday. They know we are very clean and capable of administering Parker's medications so it was agreed upon and we soon left the San Rafaelle.

We were glad that Parker no longer has to take Augmentin for precautionary reasons. It caused his bowel movements to be very wet since it can interfere with the bacteria in the intestines. We also found that Parker was not eating very well the past few days in isolation. Everyone was getting sick of the food after 45 days. That said, when Parker came home he demolished six roasted potatoes and and whole grilled cheesed sandwich in about five minutes. Now, he is currently eating a large banana with his cereal. Parker missed the good food I always made him here at the residence.

The first day we were in isolation one of the nurses had commented on how much Parker laughs and how it comes from his stomach. To be honest, we had not really heard him laugh like that for a long time, but when Parker came home yesterday we heard it quite a bit. Parker spent quite a few hours getting used to his surroundings.

When we brought Parker to the hospital a month and a half ago, Parker was just learning to walk. Unfortunately, Parker was stuck in his crib for the duration of his stay and never got to work on his walking. I could not believe how well Parker walks now that he is out of isolation. I guess walking on a soft mattress increased the strength in his legs and improved his balance quite a bit. Parker has excellent balance and walks extremely well. He does not walk on his toes and always makes sure to lift his feet off the ground as a result of walking on a bed for so long.

We also decided to take Parker for a walk yesterday in his stroller around the Laghetto. When we arrived to where the turtles normally are we met a woman with a dog who said in English, "hi". She just moved here two days ago from Holland with her husband and three children. When I asked her if she had gotten used to Milano Due yet, she had said that she had found a website on the Internet with images of exactly where they were going to be staying. Would you believe that it was actually this website that she had been visiting to see what their new home would look like. What are the chances of meeting someone here in Milano Due from somewhere else in the world who had actually visited our site. I guess with almost 180,000 hits you are bound to meet people who have been to your site once in a while.

Today, Nana and Gaga will watch Parker for most of the day since they leave for Canada tomorrow morning and we want to make sure they get as much time with Parker today as possible. We are very thankful for everything that they have done for us in the past couple of months as it has definitely made our life more tolerable.