Tick Tock Tick Tock

Life lessons learned today:

1. When life tells you to wait a little longer, enjoy the wait.

Dr. Lee, an oncologist, made the daily morning rounds. Again the news of the day was that we're still waiting on pathology. We probed a bit about the pathology process to feel assured that although the weekend makes things slow down around the hospital, the pathologists are hard at work still trying to put a name to the small round blue cells under their microscopes. The oncologists really can't do anything until the pathologists give the cells a name. We are still optimistic about a diagnosis by Monday, but we are no longer placing bets. So we took more deep breaths and decided that we'll enjoy the beautiful view from our window, be grateful we scored the only room on the wing with a private shower, eat some candy, visit with many friends, try out video chatting, get some fresh air outside, and count our blessings that William is not sicker than he is right now.

Dr. Lloren, our amazing pediatrician, stopped by today to see William. Ryan told him what we learned about the relationship between the pathologists and oncologists and the processes going on. He had a great joke that really summed up our experience:

A pediatrician, a surgeon, and a pathologist went duck hunting. The pediatrician saw a duck fly by and said, "Is that a duck? I think it's a duck. Maybe it's a small goose." But it was too late. The bird flew off and he missed his shot. The surgeon saw a duck and said, "Is that a duck? It looks a duck, but it could be something else...awww, forget it." Bang! He killed the duck, picked it up, threw it at the pathologist and said, "What is it?" The pathologist replied, "I'll get back to you in a few days."

2.When you have throngs of dear friends to surround you in adversity, forget about loosing a few stress pounds!

We just might have our 1 year supply of snacks stored in our teeny, little hospital room. There are many smart and savvy ways to create additional storage space in your home, but what about a hospital room? Shoe boxes from boots! And we have 2! Each fits perfectly under William's hospital bed and each is loaded with snacks! Did you know grape licorice exists? And a bag of gumballs can make an 8 year old very, very happy? Thanks Kalani, Kim, and Sharlie. When the going gets tough, and it will, we'll eat! We shall not perish for lack of snacks!

3. Sometimes things are hard, but we do them anyway so we are stronger in the end.

Our goals with William today were to walk the halls or to the playroom, eat & drink, play, have fun. They're not quite as easy as they sound. His knees look wider than his thighs and his neck and shoulders are skeletal. He increased his oral fluid intake (still has IV fluids), but each meal was practically force fed to consume less than 1/4 of what was served. He made it to the playroom in the morning and managed to walk back with only the assistance of his IV stand. He loved his many visitors and found strength to talk a bit.

After dinner, we got permission to leave the floor and go outside. He complained of being too tired and his side hurt. We explained he had to get up and walk so he could get stronger and that pretty soon he wouldn't have the strength or the permission to leave his room.

We believe in life there will be a lot of hard things we will all have to do that won't be any fun and we won't want to do them, but we have to do them. Adversity is part of life's plan that helps us find and understand happiness. In the end, we will be better and stronger and more capable of understanding the love our Savior has for each of us.

William made it all the way outside and we sat on a bench for a while before heading up to bed. When he sat down exhausted, he said in his sweet, little, weak voice, "It's a beautiful day today."

It was a beautiful day. We were surrounded by many dear friends and family members today. We enjoyed the wait.

A visit from Millie

Falling asleep in the ICU while petting Hazel

Getting exercise

Fresh air and a beautiful day!