Those aren’t real stars to the right, though they are the ones we’ve seen way more than the real version over the past nine days and nights. They’re what you see when you look up while riding the main elevators at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Finally, it seems we’ll be out—for real—on Saturday morning. The doctors had our hopes up that we’d leave Friday, but a couple nagging issues (a low hemoglobin number, some toilet issues) had them asking for an extra day. And so here we are on a second Friday night.

Before we go home and move on, a couple things need to be said:

• We cannot thank everyone for all the care, thought and support we’ve received in the last couple weeks. Friends, family, hospital staff, bosses, co-workers … so many people have reached out and held us close with their thoughts and actions. You made a difficult situation easier, and helped us get our son back on his feet and to a healthier place.
• Kelly was a real trooper. Suffering isn’t easy, and he doesn’t come by the ability to overcome and transcend it easily. But when I think about how difficult a similar episode was three years ago, I am so impressed by how far he has come.  This was not a comfortable week, and yet he maintained (for the most part) his good nature and an eye on the ultimate goal—to get better. He made me proud.

That said, a few things need to be clarified for Kelly:

• No more eating in bed
• No more in-bed service of any kind
• The lawn, it needs cutting
• Wearing the same T-shirt three days in a row is back to being unacceptable
• What we eat matters, and we’ll be making some changes to cut down on the refined sugar, which the smart people now think has a fair amount to do with which bacteria live in your gut, and what they do down there. Try not to think about it; it’s kinda gross. But it also determines whether we do what we want to do, or if we sit in a hospital room.
• Always know that your mom and dad are there for you. These times are really hard, but we all seem to come out of it closer. That’s good, but I’d prefer we try bonding over board games for a while. After sleeping on a bench 5 times in 9 days, my back would appreciate it.

In gratitude,

Kevin