Update on Harlie and NYC

Hi All,

So, on Sunday we got to bring Harlie home! 

We are so happy to be back in one place again!

Saturday night my Mom ended up in the emergency department. She was very sick. Turns out she has aspiration pneumonia. They admitted her and are treating her with antibiotics and hopefully she will be back to herself soon. 

Poor Murphy was up all Saturday night throwing up. The first time he threw up was in the bathroom sink. Tom got up and helped him and cleaned up. Tom told him to take the trash can and put it by his bed, just in case. 

Then, later, he threw up again. Tom got up to check on him and returned a few minutes later. He walked in our room and said, "God hates me." He said that Murphy threw up on the trash can - but he forgot to lift the lid. 

Kids. 

With two out of three kids not well, it was hard to think this trip to New York could work. Even though Harlie is home, she is not back to baseline. You never leave the hospital at 100%, you always have to finish your recovery at home. 

So, Tom came up with a solution - just him and I should go. 

Harlie is in no condition to travel. I don't even want to take her to Target, much less to New York. And I'm not sending her back to school until January. It is just too risky. This virus is a cold in most people - and it took her out and put her in the ICU for 14 days. Plus, she was sick for a week prior to  hospital admission,  and she is still not back to baseline. 

She is still on oxygen most of the time. And we don't have enough back up batteries for the oxygen concentrator to travel. 

We just can't take her. And leaving her behind and taking the boys felt so cruel.

So, just the two of us it is.

While I'm grateful for this amazing opportunity, it is another reminder of how different our life is from the average family. It is another reminder of how little control we have. Following the rules is incredibly difficult (many times impossible) when you have a kid who just - can't.

Luckily, we have kids who must just get this. We explained it to all of them, and they said ok, have fun.  Harlie was the one who seemed most disappointed. But when I told her I was afraid she would get sick and have to go back to the hospital, she was like, I'm out.

While we wouldn't choose to go out of town right now, we clearly can't pass this up. In addition to Harlie and my Mom, our dogs got into a brand new unopened bag of Rooney's dog food and ripped it open. Gosh knows how much they ate. And Mabel has to eat prescription food. So, good luck to all back home with that!

Late last night, our friend Bethany came by to drop something off for us. It was a Visa giftcard that a group of our friends contributed to for us to have spending money in NYC.

Thank you Scott Paul for initiating this gift! (Scott and Tom have been friends for almost 30 years and he was the best man in our wedding.)

Thank you Bethany for organizing it. And thank you to our sweet and thoughtful friends for being so incredibly supportive and generous!

Thank you to our nurses, Brandy and Caylee for holding down the fort for us so we can go.

And thank you to my dear friend Mona, for giving us this amazing opportunity! We feel pretty confident that she regrets ever thinking about us. Sorry, Mona!  But, I promise you we will be the most grateful people ever. xo

Thank you all for caring about our family. You have no idea how much you help us survive this crazy life.

Much love!
Christy xo