40 Days, 40 Nights

Just so you know, this is not the blog I was going to write.  I have a "really good one" in my head, but I can't manage to get it written.
This is just an update for those who do not follow Facebook.
We have now been in Chicago Rush Medical Center for 40 days.  Actually, Taylor is in the rehab section of the hospital at this point. 
After having a full posterior and anterior spinal fusion, healing has been slow.  Taylor has gone from being on a vent for 14 days, then to a trach and all the while on a feeding tube (NG tube---goes through his nose, down his throat, into his stomach.)  
   The really really good news is that the trach is out..  Now we are waiting and working with him on swallowing.  The photo is of Father Stephen, a Chicago priest, who was sent to the hospital room to do a blessing/healing for Taylor's throat.  Two of my friends in Athens who are Catholic (and who know ALL of the patron saints) contacted him and asked him to come.  It was a sweet blessing---as all blessings are.
      So......we wait and hope and cajole.  So much of how this is going to work is based totally on Taylor's body doing its own work.  There are no pills, no exercises, no magic medicine to make the swelling in this throat go down so he can swallow.  It's one of those things over which we have no control---and you can imagine how that puts me in a tail-spin.
       Those are the facts.  I hate that darn NG tube but on the other hand, I am grateful that he has gotten nourishment.  This little guy has been an amazing trooper.  And let the record state that I will NOT be finding any more neurosurgeons for him---ever.  This is it.  If this surgery does not make his pain better, then well, we'll just......we'll just ....handle it.
       I don't know when we will be going home to Athens.  We left there on May 13.  I have forgotten what my kitchen looks like---but not how it makes me feel. 
        So many lessons.  So many stories.  So much learning.  So much growing..  So much grace.  So much mercy.  So much gratitude and deep thanksgiving.