Day 43. Lots of Questions. All the Same Answer.

Yesterday brought very good news! But with it brought a ton of questions.

Can I be around children now?
Can I go to family gatherings now?
Can I go to a restaurant?
Can I go to church?
Can I go shopping?
Can I clean my house?
Can I even go home?
Can I work in my yard?
Why do I still feel bad?
Why am I still so tired?

The answer to all of these questions and more come down to the simple fact that I am still just over a month old! I have no immune system, no natural immunities, no immunizations, and I will not qualify to be re-immunized for quite some time. So the simple, deadly, forgotten things like measles, mumps, rubella, and all the other diseases immunized during infancy, I am susceptible to. Currently, I have the sniffles. Most of you probably do too. But this is not a good thing for me.

When will I be able to do more? Good question! We don't know. We ask permission about specific things. I went to the store once or twice with Paul (when I was doing better), donning my mask and either wearing gloves OR washing my hands immediately before and after touching anything. I didn't last very long. But it was nice to get out! Though I looked like a crazy germaphobe!

Before Bethany & Co. move to Frisco, you can guarantee that I will be asking permission for some sort of visit. Mask, gloves, and gown if necessary. But if it's been a certain time frame since Ethan's immunizations, the answer will be no. I cannot begin to say how hard this is!

But Paul is in this for the long haul. He makes the tough calls when I can't. Even when he knows how much it hurts me. We have to stay focused on the big picture. There's going to come a day when a white Ford truck is going to fly up I-45 and find the new Hopson home for the first time. Until then, thank God for Skype!

The last question of the day was whether or not I was going to get to go home to mom's. The team just came in with the partial results of yesterday's upper/lower GI scopes. Initial results look good. Final biopsies next week. So....hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to mom's we go..... :)

Maybe she can put some weight back on this 113 lb frame.