The adjustment to Wilson being away at school continues but we haven’t had much time to be sad as there has been much to celebrate in the past two weeks…
our girl turned the big 1-3 last week…
LOVE this soccer playing, cross country running, DIY project making, nurturing and God loving goofball!!
…Rolf spoke at Westmont College…click here for the link to the video recording.
…and we concluded our summer o’ weddings this past weekend with the wedding of our goddaughter Maya in Santa Rosa! 😉
Woo Hoo!Congratulations Maya and Rob!!! P.S. This picture was taken the moment Maya heard Stanford beat USC! HaRudy dancing with the groom!Rudy getting acquainted with the bride’s brand new niece…Baby Evie!Rudy the Baby WhispererIt’s only fitting we stopped to take a quick pic of the Golden Gate Bridge on our way home from celebrating with the DiRados…Maya’s dad was the best man at our wedding and Maya’s mom was the one to suggest Rolf propose to me on top of the GGB! Ha haRight there on the tippy, tippy top of the south tower!!!
It definitely does my heart good to get out of my world from time to time and connect face to face with dear friends from long ago…not only is it refreshing but it helps put things I’m dealing with in perspective a little bit. I think when you are living with a chronic illness or long term stressful situation, it’s easy to forget what life was like (what YOU were like) before the challenges. It’s especially true for me in Santa Barbara. Because Rudy was born within a year of our family moving to SB, our community here doesn’t really know our family BR (Before Rudy) and I’m not really known apart from being a wife and mother…especially as it relates to Rudy. It’s not a bad thing particularly just more evident to me after nostalgic getaways like the quick trip up north we had this weekend. It’s both fun and sad to be reminded of simpler times.
We also had Rudy’s Back-to-School Night this past week. We continue to be blessed by his positive attitude toward school. Thanks to Nurse Viviana, we get to catch a glimpse into his day from time to time…
Rudy listening in circle timeSorting funRudy helping a classmate during a transition. 😉Rudy’s “All About Me” Poem.
Miss A. has noticed a surge in Rudy’s capacity to learn and in his eagerness to learn since school has resumed…he’s made so much progress that she is recommending his IEP meeting be moved up to October sometime to update his goals! This is an encouragement for sure and definitely worthy of adding to the list of things to celebrate! 🙂
Our household is a little quieter this week with Wilson gone. He and Rolf loaded up the truck and headed for Azusa Pacific University early Friday morning. They participated in a full weekend of activities and seminars for incoming students & their parents. The rest of us Geylings arrived at APU early on Sunday in time to attend the final assembly, grab some lunch with friends and check out Wilson’s room. It was definitely hard to say goodbye and leave our big boy behind but I think it’s really important to recognize that this is not only a new season for Wilson but for the rest of our family as well. The change in dynamics, shift in focus, moving around of furniture…it’s all an adjustment for this mama’s achy heart for sure but I’m also excited to see what this next season will mean for Max and Olivia and Rudy. I’m praying for fresh vision for all SIX of us as we embrace where we are individually and what lies before us as a family.
The most obvious changes are in Rudy’s world…once we got Wilson’s stuff all packed up or stored away, he helped me set up Rudy’s half of the room!! Rudy LOVES it…so fun!Our last dinner was Wilson’s choice…SB local favorite FREEBIRDS!!!!Wilson teaching Rudy how to Face Time.“Hi Wilthun!”Early Morning DepartureWoo Hoo! Go Cougars!!Bros checking out the dorm room!!The icing on top of this amazing cake is the opportunity to reconnect with dear friends from long ago…Watch out APU! The Geylings and the Walkers are in da house!!Part of the Walkers and Geylings in 2007! 🙂 Hee HeeOne last big sib squeeze in the van’s spacious back seat!One last big squeeze of another kind. 🙂
Bye, Bye Big Guy!Comfort food!
Medical Update:
In addition to all the activity last week, Rudy had his routine cardiology appt with Dr. Harake. His echo exam revealed no new changes…for better or worse. As a result, there is no plan to schedule a heart cath this fall which is nice. There will be a need to go in and coil some more collateral vessels (blood vessel branches that form to accommodate insufficient circulation) at some point but for now Rudy can enjoy a procedure-free fall. The big news is that Rudy weighed in at 45 pounds!!! He has been lingering around 40lbs (give or take a pound) for over two years! His weight gain and height growth are encouraging and I’m eager to hear what his Gastroenterologist and Endocrinologist have to say about it when we see them later this fall.
Speaking of fall, I’m definitely ready for fall to arrive as we gear up for another major heat wave here in SB this week! There are some season changes that can’t come quick enough for me! Ha Ha
This week marks a major milestone in the life of our family as Wilson heads off to college on Friday. I’m definitely bracing myself for the inevitable “pit in my stomach” feeling that I know I’ll experience when we say goodbye and leave him behind at APU but, right now, I’m mostly feeling very excited for Wilson knowing he is so ready for this. He is going to LOVE college…fresh challenges, new friends, new opportunities…new EVERYTHING!
I’m trying hard to find an appropriate balance in this first-time-ever-mom-moment for me. Yesterday was Wilson’s last day at the car wash and I wondered out loud whether or not he wanted to commemorate it by taking brownies in to his co-workers to which Wilson responded “It’s just like any other day, Mom.”. I got weepy at church this morning during worship practice listening to him sing and play knowing it was his last day behind the drum kit to which he said “It’s just like any other day, Mom.”. Ha Ha! I may be hearing his refrain multiple times this week as we pack up his belongings and make room for Rudy in his soon-to-be shared bedroom and I get that Wilson doesn’t want me to make a fuss…he’s navigating the process his own way but the reality is that these days leading up to Wilson’s departure aren’t “just like any other day”. It’s a big deal. It’s the very thing Rolf and I have been preparing him for for eighteen years. He’s getting ready to fly and what’s more terrifying, I’m getting ready to watch him lift off!
Up until now, Wilson’s steps toward independence have felt a lot like when my kids jumped into the pool by themselves for the first time…toes over the pool’s edge, knees knocking, eyes on me waiting in the water with my outstretched hands ready to grab and hold tight if needed. This step feels more like the first dive when I stood behind them on the pool deck, helping them position just right (chin to chest, arms at your ears!), giving them the final encouragement (“You got this! Here ‘ya go!) and then watching them dive and…swim away.
I really don’t mean to be overly dramatic about the whole thing…billions of kids have left home for the first time before Wilson and billions of kids will follow (including three more Geylings) but I can’t help but rest for a minute on the fact that this is it…we have been helping Wilson position himself for a successful launch his whole life and now it’s time for our final encouragement…
I’ve been thinking for several weeks about what my “final encouragement” to Wilson (and Max and Olivia and Rudy when the time comes) would be and, honestly, when I pare it down to the heart of what Rolf and I tried to cultivate in our kids, it fits on three quarters of one page. My encouragement would read something like this:
Precious one,
LOVE GOD with everything that makes you uniquely you. Love Him with your big heart, your passions, your gifts & talents and your intelligence. Demonstrate your love for Him in your joy for life and in your knowledge of and love for His word…BELIEVE, whether you “feel” it or not, that you are loved by God and worthy (worthy not because of what you do but because of what Christ did on the cross) of His love.
BE KIND to people. Be discerning…Identify and seek to understand the weaknesses in the people that surround you but ALWAYS encourage, support and celebrate their strengths. Prioritize people and be known for your gentleness.
BE KIND to yourself. Be self aware…Identify and seek to understand your weaknesses but know and use your strengths with confidence, humility and grace. Enjoy yourself. Laugh often. Make room for things that refresh your spirit and bring a smile to your face AND CHOOSE to do the less desirable things in life with a happy heart.
BE RESPONSIBLE for yourself, the things you say and the things you do. Own your mistakes and grow from them. (PERIOD! No elaboration needed.)
EMBRACE LIFE…ALL of it! Live life fully in all circumstances…sometimes in BIG, OUT LOUD ways but mostly in simple, quiet ways. Embrace each season whether happy or heartbreaking with faith and, most importantly, never forget that God is near.
As you prepare to take this next big step toward independence, it boils down to this: the choices your dad and I made in raising you won’t guarantee you success or wealth or even an easy life but we can guarantee you a life rich in relationship and purpose if your choices from here on out reflect the values we tried hard to live out as a young family…sometimes our efforts were clumsy and sometimes our efforts were spot on but our goal was always that you would know God and that you would know through word and through action how very much you are loved…okay, so here ‘ya go, you’re ready, you got this! Oh yeah, and one more thing, we’re so very proud of you!
Today marked the first day of the 2015-16 School Year for the three youngest Geylings and despite it being wickedly hot (for Santa Barbara), it was a good day for all…
“First Day of School” Eve 8-25-15Umm, I guess it’s not EVERYONE’s first day of school…Traditional First Day of School Porch Pic – Take Two! (8-26-15)Max was cool as a cucumber heading off to 11th grade!8th grader Olivia also playing it cool.Rudy reunited with Nurse Viviana! Woo Hoo!!
Although Rudy is officially a 1st grader this year, his special ed class is a K/1 combo that mainstreams with one of the Kindergarten classes on campus. As a result, Rudy’s schedule looks a lot like it did last year (with an additional hour and fifteen minutes at the end of the day after the K’s leave). Not that Rudy had ANY inhibitions about going to school but the familiarity of his daily routine is nice and will aid in what we hope will be a smooth transition back into a structured day. He was so happy to see his friends and teachers today. Rolf and I dropped him off and as Rolf started to push his wheelchair from the parking lot toward his classroom, Rudy said “No Dad! Walk!”. Rolf took Rudy out of his chair and he (very proudly) made a bee line for his classroom the second his feet hit the ground! Ha Ha Nurse Viviana reported at the end of the day that he had a great first day. We are so grateful he is starting the school year off healthy and with great energy and enthusiasm for learning. If today is any indication, this is going to be a fun year of progress and growth for the boy wonder.
With that, we say one last final goodbye to Summer 2015 and set our sights on the next big family “milestone” – Wilson’s college departure on September 4th!! Yikes!!
Summer is coming to a quick close and we have just a couple of days left before the 2015-16 School Year begins here in Goleta. Max is all checked-in and registered for his Junior Year, Olivia gets her class schedule and 8th grade school ID on Monday and Rudy meets his teacher on Tuesday…all report to school bright and early on Wednesday morning. Thankfully Wilson doesn’t leave for APU for another couple of weeks so we have time to get everyone else settled before facing his departure.
Rudy is healthy and happy. When I asked him earlier this week if he was ready to go back to school, he exclaimed “YESSSSSSS” with an added fist pump! Ha Ha I’m glad he is so excited. 😉 We’ve enjoyed some quieter summer moments the past couple of weeks (aka “quality sibling time”) as well as squeezed in one last week o’ fun with Rolf’s sister and her two daughters who visited from Boston this past week (QST of another kind). 🙂
I’m grateful for our summer…we made a lot of fun memories and enjoyed time with a lot of fun people…and it seems everyone is ready to head back to school so I guess it’s time to embrace the shift to a new season and say goodbye to summer. (sniff, sniff)
Here is a last look at Summer 2015…
Rudy beating the heatwave on a lazy afternoon.Hockey road trip to Calabasas…Max AND Rudy are excited hockey is starting up again!Checking out the competition…Chillin’ with Olivia“Pay with me Wilthun!!”Cousin fun in a surrey.A surrey selfie!Fun with Aunt Andi and cousins Maya & Kyra
We said goodbye to Gwendolyn Strong last weekend. She was an inspiring girl with heroic parents, Bill and Victoria. On our journey with a medically fragile child, we haven’t really found that “support groups” work. Life with a family member in need of round-the-clock care is uniquely demanding such that carving out time for structured activity and another meeting is very difficult. But we have come across people who serve as valuable examples and encourage us in our own journey by the way they navigate theirs. While life doesn’t allow for extended and regular contact, when they live in your town you can run into each other occasionally, you can touch base with a question about a doctor or local resource, and— perhaps more than anything—you can get a knowing nod, smile or sigh as you keep battling on.
Gwendolyn was an amazing child who lived an amazing life and, while it’s hard to look past how much a terrible illness robbed her of, it was a life so abundantly rich in love from friends, family, our community and the world beyond. But no one’s love was more evident than that of her parents—and I’m so glad Gwendolyn experienced that. Bill and Victoria were knowledgeable advocates who fought hard alongside their daughter. They never lost sight of the severity of her condition and the likely outcomes, but also constantly kept the fact that she was a little girl filled with wonder and personality in view. They nurtured, celebrated, trusted, challenged, inspired and pressed on. While their child’s condition would have justified narrowing their focus and attention only to their own family’s concerns, they looked broadly beyond themselves to other families facing similar struggles and poured energy into a foundation so that future suffering might be spared.
THE PART WHERE I (ROLF) MAKE THIS ABOUT ME: I’ve got no real eloquent way of wrapping this up and I’m very hesitant to go on as any grief I might be feeling is nothing compared to the Strongs’ heartbreak, but I guess since this is my blog about me I can do that here.
I was in a bad mood in the evening after the memorial service. At first I thought it was just frustration over a few things breaking around the house, but it became clear at 2am that things were running deeper. A few years ago, I remember coping with Nina’s memorial by going numb. Not sure I’m doing that now, but the thoughts that fly through your head at that hour can be torture:
Rudy is an outlier—like Gwendolyn—having lived significantly beyond what several doctors might have thought. that’s cause for celebration…but also makes you wonder how long such a run can last. you can be the best special needs parent in the world and that won’t save your child. with life dominated now by care needs, how could we ever adjust to life without them? not sure if I can list all the kids in our circle who’ve died. i can only think of three HLHS kids Rudy’s age we’ve been following since birth who are still alive. when did their parents know it was the end? what kind of warning will we have? we know of two kids who died on the transplant table last month. i hate that I go to kids’ memorial services and actually entertain what things I might include at my son’s.
Once the musings start, it’s kind of hard to stop the avalanche. Scary to stop all the activity of life to verbalize the raw questions we wrestle with and the feelings that accompany them. I’m grateful to have fulfilling and meaningful work as well as commitments and hobbies that demand a healthy degree of focus and energy, but events like this can trigger a temptation to dive into them to the point where they become a distraction. Don’t freak out–we’re OK. This is our reality. We laugh a a lot and embrace all the moments of beauty we capture on this blog. Perhaps the fact that they take place amidst the undercurrent we don’t often talk about is what makes them all the more precious.
Still no eloquent way to wrap this up. Time to hug my family and gaze in wonder at the little half-heart warrior.
Rudy was pretty lost without the big sibs last week which made a visit from his godmother and her daughter especially fun! Grace and C.C. arrived late Wednesday night and Rudy was in heaven demanding their undivided attention. He had had a bit of an episode the day before which spooked me enough to warrant a trip to the ER. His symptoms were such that I thought he was having a stroke but he perked up with additional O2 while in the ER and a specific cause could not be determined. We came home and laid low the rest of the day…a visit from Grace and C.C. was a healthy distraction for us both.
Fun at the harbor!Cuddle time with Grace.
C.C. is a talented young artist (you may remember her “Rudy’s Heart” painting from couple of years ago) and planned ahead to do a painting project with Rudy. She drew one of Rudy’s favorite objects and they painted it together…can you guess what it is?
Craft time with C.C.Masters at work.
Tah dah! “Rudy’s Robot”
The big kids made it home from camp on Friday and enjoyed a couple of days with Grace and C.C. too. We didn’t hear from the kids while they were on the mountain (no cell service) so we were especially excited to catch this little glimpse into their fun…the boys serenaded Olivia with an original parody of Ed Sheeran’s song “Thinking Out Loud”…LOVE IT!!!
Things are a little slower this next week which is nice…the kids all came home with colds from camp and are in need of a little rest. It’s hard to believe August is here already! Happy August dear ones…
Rudy’s last day of summer school with Nurse Viviana.
Rudy finished up summer school last week…his teacher had nothing but great things to report. He worked hard on his workbooks and various therapies and, of course, enjoyed adaptive PE with Coach Galvan. He came home happy on the bus with nurse Viviana every day and looked forward to going back the next morning. 🙂 Sadly, his first full week of summer break coincides with the big kids heading off to camp…when we dropped them off this morning, Rudy asked over and over as they unloaded their luggage “where you going?”. He would have jumped in the church van with them if he could. Poor guy…
Saying “goodbye” to the big sibs…
He may be a little lost without the big sibs this week but a quiet house will allow him to nap and get some good rest…and we have a couple of visits from good friends to look forward to! 🙂 Summer ROCKS!!!
Rudy on the 4th of July….…at the SBRM Homeless Guest BBQ!Having so much fun!!!
July is only 1/2 over but Rudy and the fam have had enough activity to fill the whole month…or two! 🙂 We enjoyed our annual 4th of July BBQ celebration at the rescue mission, we sent Max off to Kentucky for a very special week-long national youth conference with our church and the rest of us were blessed to host a couple of dinner parties for the 13 men and women who graduated from SBRMs residential treatment program on the 11th…and that was just the FIRST week of July! Ha Ha
SBRM’s two OGs! Olivia Geyling and Olivia Goodin 😉
Tucked in between these special SBRM celebrations, we were honored to celebrate another very special couple to our family. This wedding was particularly sweet as we are friends with BOTH families and we have had the privilege of watching Ryne and Miranda’s relationship grow from high school sweethearts to husband and wife. Wilson was honored to be an usher in the wedding party and Olivia had an official role at the reception as well…so fun for them!
The official “fifth wheel” picture…Wilson tagged along on many trips to 7/11 and In ‘n Out when Ryne and Miranda were first dating!! Ha ha Some things never change!!! 😉Good Friends…Good Times!Since Ryne is a car man, there was a strong “car” presence at the reception of which Rudy very much approved!!!Official Usher and Greeter!Awesome reception fun!!!Not a bad pic of the oldies!Congratulations Ryne and Miranda! Woo Hoo!
And all this fun led us right into VBS (Vacation Bible School) week at church…another summer tradition we all look forward to. Wilson led the worship team along with Max, Olivia was part of the teaching team for the Kindergarteners, Rolf creatively presented the bible story each night and I was on Rudy duty. It’s a fun opportunity for us to partner together and have a ton of fun with our awesome community of friends at church. It’s interesting to watch Rudy as the distinction between typical situations and special ed environments become more apparent for him…although he is making GREAT progress developmentally, the reality is that it is very difficult for him to navigate typical situations without a TON of support and it is painfully apparent at big kid activities like VBS. It makes me so grateful for our sweet, loving and accommodating church family as well as the gifted special education staff in our school district who pour into our boy. Speaking of school, Rudy has one more week of summer school…he has had such a great experience…he’ll miss it for sure but it will be nice to have a couple of unstructured weeks before we begin to prepare for the regular school year again.
Rudy the SUPER Scientist at SonSparks Lab!A VBS selfie with Rudy and teacher Greg!
Today is the last day of VBS and it also marks the fifth anniversary of my dad’s passing…how can it be his fifth year memorial? With so many significant moments in the life of our family the past couple of months, Dad has come to mind a lot and I’ve missed his presence. As I watch the kids grow into independent, confident, interesting people, I am reminded of the last lucid conversation I had with my dad. He had just found out that his brain cancer was not responding to treatment anymore and that the prognosis was terminal. The first thing he said to me was that he was sorry he wasn’t going to have the opportunity to see my children grow up and be there for them. I think it’s very sweet that of ALL the things he could have been concerned about in that very tender, vulnerable moment, his thoughts centered on family and somehow not finishing his “job”. I’ve thought of that conversation often lately and how pleased Dad would have been to watch Wilson give his speech at graduation or to watch Olivia fearlessly swim with Dolphins in Hawaii or to see Max enthusiastically head off to Kentucky eager to grow in his faith and I think of it almost every day where Rudy is concerned…Because of Dad’s athletic achievements, I think he would have especially appreciated how far Rudy has come and would have celebrated his achievements in mobility with great enthusiasm…and I suspect he would have been in awe of how resilient Rudy is…demonstrating it over and over again when he meets routine trips to the cath lab with a smile, black-eye producing tumbles with a chuckle and monthly blood draws with barely a whimper. 😉
With Dad at the KU Hall of Fame…spring 2010Grandpa Dick and “steroid” Rudy (2010)Sharing a great laugh! (2010)Rudy 2015
We made it home from our special summer adventure in Hawaii and jumped right back into the work/summer school/therapy routine again. It so easy to get swept up in the flurry of “to dos” so the challenge now is to hang on to a little of the laid-back aloha spirit and keep that spirit alive this summer whether we’re in a doctor’s office, working on a house project or shopping for groceries. 😉
We are so grateful! We’ve never attempted a trip like this before. Before Rudy was born, our vacation time was used to visit our parents back in Kansas and Texas. Since Rudy’s birth, our summer vacations have been limited to small-scale road trip destinations within California with the exception of Rudy’s Wish Trip (organized by the Make-A-Wish Foundation) and a rented-RV trip to Kansas to see my dad in the last months of his battle with brain cancer. With Wilson heading off to college and the dynamic of our family’s daily life changing in the months ahead, it seemed like the right time for a big family trip.
When Rolf and I started to brainstorm several months ago, we entertained the thought of finding care for Rudy at home allowing us a very different experience with just the big kids but when we ran the idea by the big sibs they quickly protested and said we couldn’t go without Rudy! 🙂 And so began the hard work of organizing logistics that fit Rudy’s special needs…ordering oxygen and enteral supplies for delivery on Oahu and Maui, renting vehicles big enough to haul Rudy’s wheelchair, getting the airline-required doctor letters of release for travel with O2 concentrator, gathering information on the hospitals near our accomodations, making sure the activities we signed up for were wheelchair accessible, etc,etc,etc. None of it rocket science but definitely enough extra work in pre-planning that could cause one to think twice about going on such a trip.
Rolf and I had what we affectionately call “the honeymoon from hell” in Hawaii that we’ve wanted to redeem for a couple of decades now and our kids, Oma & Gma Jo have never been to Hawaii so we were all were pretty excited to experience new adventures and make some special memories together!! Rolf did a great job of organizing an itinerary that included a few family outings, a special experience for each of the big kids and a good balance of down time at a condo right on the water. Rudy’s body had a hard time adjusting to the heat and humidity of the islands so he spent a good bit of his time indoors initially which made our condo location ideal…allowing him to enjoy the beautiful view and the big sibs’ fun water play from the comfort of the air-conditioned condo! 🙂
We started our adventure with 3 days in Oahu where we visited the USS Arizona Memorial, where Olivia got to swim with dolphins and where the big boys got to go parasailing…
En route from LAX to Honolulu!Vacation Roomies Gma Jo and Oma!USS Arizona Memorial“Thumbs up” from RudyWhile at Pearl Harbor, Rolf and the big boys toured the “Mighty Mo” aka USS Missouri.Some good ol’ fashioned sibling fun in the hotel pool…
Thanks to current “rubber sleeve” technology in cast covers, Rudy got to go swimming too!…And this is pretty much the view of every picture he took with the underwater camera. Ha HaBucket List Dolphin Swim? Check!
Rudy just couldn’t stay awake long enough to watch Olivia swim with the dolphins 😦Sea Life Park in Oahu…such a pretty locale.We didn’t get a picture of the boys parasailing but Wilson did capture Max getting blasted and almost swept away by this wave!And the gals enjoyed a lei-making class!
After a whirlwind three days in Waikiki, we packed up and flew to Maui where we planted some roots for a week…
Day 4 – Our flight over to Maui.
Sadly, Olivia caught a fever and felt pretty awful on our travel day so she, Rolf and Rudy stayed home from the luau scheduled our first night in Maui :(.
The big boys were good sports and participated in the “Keiki Hula” solely for a photo op! Ha HaChillin’ off the lanai…One of many beautiful sunsets from our condo…ah, lovely.
Max the grill master.Rolf’s big treat was getting to step off the lanai and SUP anytime he wanted…thanks to a little El Nino, our side of the island enjoyed unusual swells for this time of year. Rolf was a happy camper!He also made arrangements with a local dude he met online to do a downwind run to Kihei…thankfully the guy was a legit SUPer or this could have been the last picture we have of Rolf.
The road to Hana was a long and winding day trip but it definitely lived up to it’s reputation for being the most beautiful drive on the island!
A last minute add on to the itinerary was a helicopter tour…Rudy and I hung back at the condo but the rest of the crew enjoyed this “once-in-a-lifetime” experience!
Rudy’s been working on “self care” in OT so while the others were out flying the friendly skies, I gave Rudy the tube of sunscreen and asked him to put it on…ha, ha! Not bad Rudy!
Although we played hard during the day, the evenings were reserved for hanging out on the lanai for impromptu ukulele concerts.
Shhhh, I don’t think we were supposed to sit on it but there was a carousel horse in the middle of our condo!I LOVE pineapple bowls for some reason…I got a small one on our honeymoon and use it all the time…this one in our condo is the biggest one I’ve ever seen! Ha
There were a lot of activities Rudy couldn’t do on this trip but snorkeling wasn’t one of them…we took a family cruise out to Molokini and a sea turtle cove to snorkel and Rudy joined us on the second snorkel stop!
1st stop, Molokini crater…
Then it was Rudy’s turn!!!!
Getting ready to launch!One, two, three, GO!Woo Hoo!! Family snorkel pic!Olivia’s underwater selfie.Rudy loved his snorkel float!Rudy’s view of the fish!The fish’s view of Rudy!
Never thought our little half-heart would swim in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Maui!Mother/DaughterMother/SonTravel day back to the Mainland…Hawaiian Style!
We got to L.A. early Sunday morning and said goodbye to Oma at LAX where she caught a flight back home to Alabama. Rudy started summer school at 7:45am the following morning…kind of a rude awakening for us but he was happy to see his friends and Nurse Viviana again! While Rudy was in school, Livy, Wilson and I took Gma Jo to the airport for her flight back to Kansas and after school, we all took Rudy to his ortho appt to get his cast removed!! Keeping the spirit of the islands alive, we had an impromptu “castaway” party right there in the doctor’s office…
“There ain’t no party like a ‘Castaway’ Party …..ooo, ooo, ooo!!”
Tah-Dah!!!
The next day we headed to Dr. Harake’s for Rudy’s routine check-up and Rudy was being “Mr. Helpful” during his echo exam…Steady, Rudy, steady!
Rudy’s O2 sats were pretty low – low 70s – (he typically sats in the low 80s) so we’ll keep an eye on that as it could be a bad sign but everything else checked out okay. No change in his heart size/function. He was pretty tuckered out this week so I suspect it’ll take his body a few days to settle back to his normal baselines…I think we all may be experiencing a little vacation wear and tear, perhaps, but I think everyone would agree that our trip was well worth it! 🙂 Aloha Friends!
Rudy's Beat 
