Of late.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. That's what Jonathan does in the hospital every day. I've come pretty close to putting a sign on his door for the doctors that says, "If you're going to say 'Watch and wait' again today, just spare yourself a trip and come back when you have a plan." But of course I haven't done that. And they continue with the watch and wait plan.

Brushing teeth in bed. 

Yesterday, the biliary surgery team (Jonathan's surgical team) and the GI doctors had a conference and discussed Jonathan's case. The goal was to debate and figure out what the best course of action was. The consensus was... you guessed it... wait! They want to send Jonathan home for a couple weeks of waiting to get him as ready as he can be for major abdominal surgery. Said surgery will be open, either involving a midline incision from his sternum to his pubic bone, or a sort of inverted V incision below his nipple line, to access everything they need to access. The plan for surgery now is to remove the gallbladder, do a necrosectomy on the pseudocyst(s), and place a feeding tube so he can move from TPN to a G-tube ("button") or something along those lines, which is a better longer-term solution for his nutrition needs.

He'll still have TPN and at least one percutaneous drain, so we think we'll have a home health nurse or something like that. He'll have to cycle through the TPN every night, but then he'll have some time in the day where he's not tethered to an IV pole. And he'll get to be away from the hospital for a bit. So although a hospital discharge and readmission will end up costing us (and our insurance company) quite a bit, we're okay with the plan after hearing the doctor's arguments for it.

TPN

My mom (Momo) left on Monday so it's me and the kiddos now, and it's been good so far. I've had plenty of help in the form of friends and family visiting, my work being flexible, Starbucks gift cards so my caffeine levels are stable... It's been really incredible and humbling to have so many people loving us right now. I even went to Target and got some thank you cards, so one of these days you might get some happy mail, dear readers. :)

GOB and his ice cream. 

The kiddos and I have been getting through the days and trying to do fun things here and there. The other night I finally indulged Evelyn's continuous wishes to "PLAY INSIDE" at Chick-Fil-A. It was her lucky day, because they even let her go behind the counter to make her own ice cream cone!

Making her own cone. She thanked them by having an accident in the play place - but on the ground level so it was totally easy to clean up. She's considerate that way. 

We also went to two parks, successfully spending the entire day outside on Sunday before it got way too cold.

Checking out Walltown Park

And of course there's been plenty of painting, indoor sliding, reading, and dancing at our house.

Pensive painter. 

We're glad to be done with December*, and hopeful that the next few months will bring some resolution and relief for Jonathan. 

Yes indeed. 

*Here are some things that happened in December/very early January: Jonathan got a Christmas bonus. Hooray! A couple days later, the heater broke. Two days later, the heater broke again. The next week, we took the Prius in for regular maintenance and they discover that we need to drop two grand for a new catalytic converter. And last weekend I twisted my ankle and ended up in urgent care so I now am rocking the ankle brace and crutches. It will get better.