laughter is the best medicine

We’ve never heard Ira’s laugh. Until today.

two things you need to know

Here are two things I find incredible:

1. You might remember me saying that the requirement for Ira to go back to the hospital to get his trach removed and the hole sealed up was that Ira needed to tolerate 12 waking hours while being capped. He did that yesterday. Yeah, you heard me. Yesterday. The day after his surgery. We put it on him at 7 a.m. and he acted as if it was part of his regular morning routine. We took it off before bed last night. I wrote the doc to tell him the news and he replied, “keep it up over the weekend and come and see me on Monday.” HOLY COW! Are you kidding me?! Ira will be admitted on Monday so that he can sleep in the safe compounds of the hospital while being capped. If he handles that on Monday night we could get the trach out on Tuesday! WHAT?! I thought that might make your Friday a little more sweeter. It sure does mine. I’ll have much more to say about this as it sinks in but for now the only word I can think of is, YESSSS!
2. The next thing you need to know is that Laura is now blogging. That’s right, she has her own blog. You’ve read some of her stuff here on this blog. It’s deep. It’s poignant. It’s authentic. And let’s be honest, you come here hoping and crossing your fingers that maybe, just maybe Laura has written something for my blog. Well she’s got her own blog now. While it’s going to be a bit more kid-centric I’m guessing that you’ll get to experience more of her deep and authentic insights; posts like this, this or this. And I cry every time I read this one. Go check out her blog here and then bookmark it! You won’t be disappointed.

just. wow.

Ira performed wonderfully today. They went in to take another look at his airway and sure enough, the granula started growing again. They scraped it out but the doc said it would keep growing back as long as the trach was a factor. (You see, the body doesn’t really like foreign objects invading its space which leaves a whole host of questions about Ira’s Goretex diaphragm.) So the doc said, we need to fast-track this weaning process.

During the surgery they put in a smaller sized trach. The idea is that Ira would still be able to use his trach to breathe but a lot of air would get by the smaller trach; therefore, Ira would breathe quite a bit from his mouth and nose. We went from a 5.0 to a 3.0. That’s a pretty big difference. And now we are charged with plugging up the trach (capping it) until Ira can tolerate being capped 12 waking hours. When he can tolerate that, we will go in and have the trach removed and the hole sewed up.

As I type, Ira’s going on 2 hours of being capped. Yep, he just had the surgery today. Incredible. For the first time since he was six months old, Ira is only using his mouth and nose to breathe. That’s a big. freakin. deal.

more surgery

Ira goes in for his follow-up surgery tomorrow, Wednesday. The procedure will be at 10 a.m. We feel a bit more confident this time around as we know what to expect. The doc will make sure the airway recovered from the last surgery and will replace Ira’s trach with a smaller one. They will keep him overnight to see how he makes the adjustment to the new trach.

do you hear that?

One of the neglected spiritual practices within Christianity is the practice of listening. It’s ignored for a couple of reasons. One, we live in a world that has forgotten how to listen. We’re so inept at listening that people write books about it like The Lost Art of Listening. Two, we’re not sure how the discipline of listening works. Is it praying and then sitting in silence? Is it reading the Bible and then chanting over and over again a specific verse? How exactly is the disciple of listening enacted?

Some of you have it figured out. Some of you have stumbled upon it before. The question that I have for those of you who have successfully practiced the disciple of listening is this: How will you know when you are practicing the discipline of listening?

easter day

Our Easter Sunday was an exciting day. It started off with pictures of the kids on the stoop in their Easter outfits. We then headed to church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with family, friends and newcomers at CCFB.

Sophia and I were so wiped out after church that we didn’t bother with lunch. We went straight to my bed and crashed. Laura eventually came to wake us up. She said, “How about we go to Coney Island with our friends?” Sophia and I didn’t even flinch. We weren’t going anywhere.

She eventually talked us into it and we’re glad she did. We had a blast with our friends and we ended the day overcome with joy to have spent the day with people we love and cherish.

easter

The waiting is over…yet it’s not.

After those four long days of silence, Laura finally came back and said, Let’s give this a go. Ten years later and we’re still going strong. On that seventh day, Ira slowly started turning in a positive direction. Three years later and the boy runs around as if he’s oblivious of his past.

I’m fortunate that at the end of those days spent waiting things worked out for the best. Not everyone is so fortunate. Sometimes the one you love doesn’t come back or decides the answer is no. Sometimes the one you love doesn’t ever make that positive turn but instead passes away.

The resurrection of Jesus is good news, not because it assures us of good health and more wealth, but because we are able to look beyond the chaos of the here and now and taste/feel/see/hear the goodness of God. And by tasting the goodness of God we are able to press on. By tasting the goodness of God we are given the courage to stand. By tasting the goodness of God we have the ability to put one foot in front of the other. By tasting the goodness of God we are able to withstand the waiting that is sure to come again.

good friday

I’ll never forget the four days in college when Laura wouldn’t speak to me. She needed to ponder the future of our relationship. I was on board and ready to go. Laura needed time. Those four days of silence were grueling.

For seven long days the question of life and death made its home near Ira’s bed in the NICU. For seven long days a machine extracted Ira’s blood from his body, oxygenated it, and pumped it back into Ira’s body. During those seven days I had two conversations in which the doctors said, things don’t look good. You and your wife need to prepare yourselves. Those seven days were excruciating.

What made the four days of silence grueling and the seven days excruciating was the silence.

the unknown.

the confusion.

the fear of losing someone forever.

the waiting.

the six are…

I need a little help here. We know that Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and Sun are five of the Oceanic Six. What is yet to be determined is the sixth. Or is it already determined? It’s unclear as to whether or not Ben and Aaron are counted as one (or two) of the others, right?

Someone help a brother out.

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And for those of you wondering, yes, I’m in my office today actually working (and writing this post) instead of watching the first day of tourney action. I should get some kind of award for this!

randomness

With Easter Sunday closing in, my mind is all business. And so in this Wednesday’s post you have to deal with my randomness. Enjoy…or at least tolerate…okay, so you may not even read this. I understand. I really do. The equation has already been worked out by some of the top mathematicians of our world. It goes something like this. Randomness + blogging = crap. So really, I won’t be offended if you surf on over to the next blog.

Without further ado, I present to you randomness:

I don’t like sharing my wife. I’ve been sharing time with her for a while now. Nothing against the kids. Nothing against friends or family. Nothing against our church family. Nothing against our respective jobs. All of that is great. Really. But I kinda like Laura. I’m a nicer person when around her and so I want to spend some quality time with her. Just her and me. She and I. We. Us. However, I’m fully aware that if we were alloted some alone time without any distractions we would both fall asleep.

Speaking of sleep, it’s way underrated. If there were a religion that based its beliefs on sleep, I would seriously consider it. Can I get an amen?

Speaking of amens, a woman attended our church last week. Toward the end of the sermon, she couldn’t hold back any longer. As I drove home the point, I got an amen out of her. Because of that amen, I rattled off a bit more than what was in my manuscript. I’m guessing that’s why the regulars in attendance don’t amen audibly. No straying from the manuscript, Joe! Got it?

Speaking of straying, how ’bout those New York governors?

Thank you, thank you very much. I’ll be here next week: same place, same time. You’ve been a gracious audience.