January 1, 2016

The support we have felt since posting our story has been miraculous. We have had literally thousands of views on our blog in just one day. Family, friends, and friends of those friends have sent us messages of encouragement and have visited this site from the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, Lebanon, Germany, Spain, France, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina. Some of these countries are places we've never visited. We don't know how to ever show our appreciation as it has strengthened us. The power of prayer is so real to us right now, and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We have felt the prayers.

We had a good visit with Koby today. He did stop breathing a couple more times during the day, so they increased the help from the breathing machine. His blood is now clotting on its own, which is progress from yesterday. He was shaking a lot when we got there, as he has pretty constant seizures. They are giving him medicine to help with that, and he seems to be annoyed by his breathing tube. In order to help that he is on a low dose of morphine, which helps keep his brain from doing too much. This is what is needed right now. Here's a picture of the scrubbing-in area. We have to scrub our hands and arms for 3 minutes, and then put on a gown to cover up our clothes. It makes me feel like I'm going into surgery like a doctor would. I didn't listen very closely the first day and thought I was supposed to run the hot water on my hands for three minutes, and then open up the soap and clean my hands. After one minute the nurse stopped me and said that it would work better if I actually opened up the soap first. Duh! It's a good thing no one will have me as their surgeon anytime soon.

Our nurse allowed both of us to gently touch him today. Oh it was heavenly just to touch his skin, and we weren't expecting it. We couldn't touch for long and couldn't move our hands around on his skin, but it was special nonetheless. Our nurse also prepared a little gift for us of his footprints. That's something we would always create for ourselves, but since we won't be able to do that while he is in the hospital, she did it for us. We are thankful.

They are now starting to warm up his body temperature tonight. He's 93 degrees right now, and they will increase it by 1/2 degree every hour or so, until he's up to 98.6. They are doing this throughout the night tonight, so we will have a report on how it goes in the morning.

I had a surreal experience after breakfast with Kaylie, our nine year old. She has asked me about 12 times per day when she will be able to hold Koby. I've told her the same thing each time: that she will get to hold him once he is out of the hospital. That doesn't seem to satisfy her, and she keeps asking for me to find a way to get her back to his room so she can do it. 

So, I reiterated to Kaylie again that she still has to be patient, and needs to pray that Koby gets better quickly so she can hold him sooner. When I said this to her for the 50th time she stopped eating breakfast, put her head down, and just started to sob. I jumped up and just held her and sobbed with her --remember I am not a crying type of guy so it takes a lot to admit it publicly:)

At that moment I was brought back in time to when I was an 8 year old. My sister Mindy was born premature and was very sick, and the doctors gave her a tiny chance of surviving. She was in the NICU for 6 weeks, and I can vividly remember talking to my parents about it. I can remember laying in my parents bed when my Dad walked into the room. I put his pillow over my head to cover up the fact that I had been sobbing. I wanted to hold my sister Mindy so bad, and we weren't allowed to because she was too sick. My Dad explained the reasons why again, and he told me that I would be the first brother allowed to hold her the day she came home. It made me feel good, and I was excited for that special day. And now, 29 years later, I am the Dad explaining to my own child the same thing my Dad had to explain to me. It made me appreciate my parents so much, and grateful that I can have a chance to learn these lessons of gratitude and parenthood. 

Tomorrow is a big day with Koby, and we look forward to any type of progress he has.