Healthy Progress

August is the time of year that most Italians take their vacations, and a good percentage head toward the sea or lakes where it is cooler. Many of the shops in town close for the entire month. The supermarkets are still open and there are still people about, but the change is definitely noticeable. Even the hotel near the hospital, where we go to update the blog, is closed. Unimaginable for our North American brains—but very cool.

Last week we had to move to a different apartment. We actually moved back into the same apartment that we stayed in last year. It took us a couple of days to get situated here, but we are settled in now. The two apartments are basically the same, but one good thing about this one is that there are screens on the windows, so we can get some fresh air without worrying about mosquitos. The view faces another direction and Sebastian does miss watching the construction of the building across the street, but he can still see it when we go outside for a walk.

His numbers are continuing to go up, with the exception of his lymphocytes, which we know will take a long time to increase. We are very happy with how well he is responding to the gene therapy treatment up to this point. The lesions that he had in the hospital have more or less disappeared, however, we believe that he was bit by some sort of insect (maybe a spider) and he had another reaction on his face. The doctors gave us some cream to put on, and it seems to be helping. We still don't take him to parks or into stores, but he no longer needs to wear a mask when we go out, except when we go to the hospital.

In the picture, Sebastian is holding an Italian flag that he made out of Lego's. He's standing in front of one of the windows in our apartment. All of the windows have outside window coverings that can be raised up completely, closed partially to let some light through (as shown in the picture) or closed completely to block out all light. It seems that every home has these window coverings, or some version of window coverings. We think they are for temperature control, privacy, and safety. We prefer to keep them open during the day, so that we can look outside and get some natural light, however, most of our neighbors keep them closed the majority of the time.

Sebastian is enjoying doing his school workbooks. Lately, after we wake up, he has a few lessons prepared for us. These are similar to what he has learned in the previous few days. He says, "I have a game for you to play." Then he gets out a pen for each of us and tells us what we need to do and how it should be done. He often changes the rules of the "game" mid-way and makes sure to correct us all the time. Basically, this is his opportunity to tell us what to do and to be the boss. We think it's really cute. With all the rules Sebastian has had to live by we believe this is very healthy for him. On that note, when we go out for a walk he always says, "Can we go where I want to go?" Of course.