IMG_0393, originally uploaded by kevdonahue.

Kelly’s had a tough 6 weeks. His latest flareup became his most serious and persistent since 2007, when he was originally diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. It came to a head this week, and on Thursday he was admitted into Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The first wave of tests confirmed that he was quite anemic (a 7, for those of you who don’t know much about these things; normal starts around 13, from what I understand). So we settled in for a multi-day stay.

Two days later, he’s feeling better, his appetite is returning, and he’s getting in a lot of reading (see above) and World Cup soccer viewing. He received two units of blood the night we arrived, and his color is much better.

It’s still a bit of a mystery what precipitated this latest flareup but we’re convinced that we’ve got the right people working with us to figure it out, and that we’ll get back on top of this.

Thanks for all the good wishes and offers of help. As always, our family has this wonderful feeling that we are being held in your caring hands. It doesn’t make this stuff easy—but easier. Thank you!

Some photos from our CHOP stay, including one that shows what Kelly’s stay would have looked like in 1971 (Warning: gross photo of Kevin’s leg with poison ivy, taken at hospital; nurse said she couldn’t help—this is a CHILDREN’S hospital).