Ben had a very uneventful day yesterday to end the week. We had a few more small wins, mainly completing his breathing treatments, finishing his last dose of methadone, and taking out every last thing from him except his feeding tube (no more IVs!) He had several visitors stop by from the Ben fan club to see his progress and how he was doing. 

He was a little bit more fussy yesterday- crying a bit more than his usual happy Ben self. There could definitely be a bit of withdrawal symptoms, although what we’ve forgotten is that while as this was going on, Ben is still a growing almost 5 month old and is teething hard. Nothing a little Tylenol can’t cure. 

Could today finally be the day we get to come home??? We sure hope so and barring any major concerns from his doctors, we think we should be back in our house tonight, after just under three weeks as guests of Scottish Rite. 

As hard of a process as this has been, it would’ve been impossible without the amazing care teams that have taken care of Ben for 21 days. It’s clear that in many parts around the world and even here, success with facing something like a serious respiratory virus isn’t a given for young children. We are incredibly fortunate to have acccess to compassionate providers and a world class institution like CHOA. 

And it would have been equally impossible without the love, support, encouragement, meals, FaceTime cries, help at work, care for our other children, and general prayers and blessings from our family, friends, and complete strangers who have been told about our story. All we can say is thank you.

Keep your fingers crossed that we will be leaving here today with our boy. He had a couple sisters that are really missing him and ready for him to come home. 

The Hellers