He’s home!!

I want to apologize to everyone that it’s been a few days since our last update but it’s a really good one!

Last Wednesday, Seth was given the all clear to head out the front doors of children’s hospital and go home. We took their recommendation and hit the road! We made it home before Ryan was out of school and asked Seth if he wanted to go pick him up and he said, “No, I want to surprise him at home!”  So, we got him home, settled and I went to pick up Ryan. When we got home, Seth was hiding under the covers in our bedroom with Michelle and I sent Ryan in to get something from our room. He went in and said, I think mommy’s home…I pulled the covers back to show him she was and responded…”so is Seth”. I pulled the covers back more to reveal Seth and Ryan jumped on him and CRIED THE HAPPIEST TEARS EVER!!!

It has been so great having everyone back under one roof. Seth still has a very, very long road to full recovery, but there was nothing left for him at the hospital and nobody wanted to be there any longer than we had to (including the doctors and nurses).

Seth still has bouts of pain and discomfort, most often after a long day of walking around the house and first thing in the morning (around 5 am) but every day he tries his best to draw, eat, play on his phone and walk. Things he wants to do and using his hands and feet to keep active.

At this point Seth still kept his return secret from friends because on Friday afternoon we surprised all his classmates at Kabbalat Shabbat at school. We arrived around 2:45 so he could get seated and at 2:55, his first classmate walked in, saw Seth and BOLTED about of the gym to tell everyone else. After that, it was a flood of friends, streaming across the gym and all hugging him and sitting with him during the service. It was so emotional for everyone.

Saturday was our friends Bar Mitzvah and Seth most definitely wanted to be there. So, we took our time, go to synagogue and watched Benny chant beautifully. Seth was surrounded by all his friends and when he felt tired, he rested out of the shul. But it was an amazing day for him!

Tomorrow, Seth makes his triumphant return to school for just a short time (maybe an hour or two) to reintegrate a daily routine. We’ll see how each day goes.

A lot of thank yous to all our family and friends who have supported Seth and our family during this really hard time. We know there’s a lot more to come and we’ll keep updating as he gets stronger and let you know how he’s doing.

An unbelievable thank you to the faculty and staff at Churchill Center and School for giving Michelle the necessary time off to be at Seth’s bedside through this entire ordeal and continued support while he recovers at home.

An equally major thank you to the team at EyePromose who told me that if I needed to work to keep my mind going that was fine but nobody expected me to put in anything if I wasn’t ready.

You have all been incredible and Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder of our work family and friends!

The most important thank you we can offer is the the unbelievable nurses and doctors of children’s hospital. While Seth was in the ICU we relied heavily on our daily rounds updates from the doctors and loved every single caretaker in the nursing staff. Even if our nurse was busy, another stepped right in to help Seth with whatever he needed. Every conversation ended with, is there anything I can do for you mom and dad! They all blew us away and are truly the reason Seth spent only 17 days in the hospital vs a month or more!

More to come soon but he’s home and that is the best news we could hope for!!

Much love and thanks,

Corey, Michelle, Ryan and especially Seth