In the Midst of all the Craziness…

blessings abound!  As you can tell from Rolf’s frequent updates, the past couple of days have been emotionally draining and the threat of dialysis today was a real discouragement to me so, I admit, I haven’t felt like following up on Rolf’s “teaser” yesterday but I realize that it’s important for you to hear of the blessings as well as the concerns…

It’s funny how extremely focused I am when I’m at the hospital with Rudy and how very UNfocused I get when I come home.  I’ve kind of been walking in circles around the house today unable to focus on any of the “to dos” and was pleasantly surprised by a friend who took the initiative to come over and take me and Olivia to lunch while the boys were at a friend’s house playing video games…this past week with Rudy was so full with so much to process and I didn’t fully realize the impact until I got home and let down a bit…time with a friend was a warmly welcomed distraction – thanks Lisa!

The good news this evening is that Rudy’s kidney function has picked up.  Rolf has been reporting progress to me regularly.  He’s done at least 3ccs every hour (the target set by Dr. Abel) and did twice that during the 7pm hour.  Some of the lab numbers are elevated but nowhere near the danger levels.  So, thanks for praying and please continue.  The chest tubes have been dry and we want them to stay that way, so that’s encouraging progress.  Hopefully the pee tube will continue to see lots of acti0n overnight so we can truly feel like we’re moving forward.

Yesterday was another one of those surreal days that included drama, anquish, tears of concern, tears of joy AND fun all wrapped into one!  It all started when I returned from breakfast to find nurses Sara and Heather and doctor Andy S. in Rudy’s room mixing a strange concoction at Rudy’s bedside.  When I greeted them with a cheerful “hello”, they all looked up with wide eyes and a collective sigh of disappointment.  Dr. Andy quickly excused himself and the gals started to laugh.  “What’s going on?”, I said.  “Oh, you came back too soon!”, they replied.  I took a closer look and realized the strange concoction was plaster!  They were attempting to get Rudy’s hand and footprint for me as a surprise…come to find out later, nurse Gladys was involved in the plan as well!  I mentioned to nurse Sara a few days earlier that I wished I had had the presence of mind to ask for a foot print of Rudy when he was born.  She remembered and found a kit to do just that when she was out shopping.  I was so touched by their thoughfulness, teared up and then quickly offered to join in and help.  Unfortunately, the plaster project ended up being a bust but just as we were aborting the project, social worker Erin stopped to see what was going on.  When we explained how the plaster wasn’t working to get the prints, she told us to wait just a minute and came back with some molding clay her department uses  for just such a purpose!  With the help of nurse Sara holding the clay and with Erin’s help unclenching Rudy’s little hand, we got the prints!  The prints are precious but I think I cherish more the visual of all these sweet gals working so hard together to fulfill a mom’s random request – thanks Sara, Heather and Erin!

‘Just another crazy day in LA – LA Land.