Out of the Box

On Wednesday, the 53rd day in the box, Sebastian was discharged. The picture above is of him leaving the box, with one foot in and one out. The first thing he did was give Chris a big hug and then he gave me a big hug. It was strange to be able to touch him again without having the gown, cap, mask and gloves on. Almost scary, but great. As we were leaving the isolation area many of the nurses who cared for Sebastian came out to say bye to him. It was a cheerful send-off, but very quick, because we were anxious to get him to the apartment.

As you can imagine, he was very excited to leave the hospital. When we were walking to the car, he was saying, "look at all the people, look at the planes, look at the clouds", as if he was seeing them for the first time. Now, it's as if he was never in the hospital. All the energy that he wasn't expending is certainly back and coming out. It's unbelievable how well he's doing. We're already starting to set a new routine. We are easing him back into school, which was a bit of a struggle at first. His video game play has been reduced to no more than a hour or so a day. He has fallen in love with building Lego's again.

We are able to interact much more now that surgical preparation is no longer necessary to be close to one another, and he's catching up on hugs and cuddle time. Now we need to work on building his strength and getting his weight up. He is able to walk outside with a mask on and he talks all the time about taking walks. He needs to stay away from people and no parks are allowed, but he is enjoying short jaunts. We will try to go a little further each day. He's been eating great, and couldn't wait to eat some of Chris's garlic bread.

Sebastian's immune system will hopefully increase in strength over time. He is by no means completely cured yet, but he is surely one step closer and we are so appreciative of Dr. Auiti for his brilliance. We are thankful to him and the other doctors for putting up with all our questions.

Thank you all for your positive thoughts and help in getting us to this point. We are very grateful!