This blog is a combination of yesterday’s ( 2 April and todays 3 April 2011)
Our day began at 5:30am coming with a harsh quickness when we only had just gone to bed after completing our packing at 1:30am ....Lilah woke at 3:30am and I could not get back to sleep. It’s 6:47pm right now and Donavan and I are on our second leg of the trip, Atlanta to Baltimore. No in air internet, so Word seemed a perfect option to help me begin to get ahead on my blog.
Our family works together so well, I really have no complaints about our morning preparation to leave except that the time flew right by ruthlessly. It seemed almost dreamlike because I remained so sleepy, the time that we leapt up from bed until we swooped out the door all packed and headed for Brunswick. Unbeknownst to Lilah, we all would be separating very, very soon L She just kept right on smiling away as she always does, making it even harder on me to keep from obsessing over having to leave her and her daddy. Right before we pulled out, we met “Bubba” and his beautiful wife….who were coming into town to camp and stopped by to drop off some medical equipment we really needed for Donavan. We had connected through Facebook and found that they were just lovely and generous people! Donavan was able to shake hands and briefly speak with them so that they could put a face to their lovely deed. It made me proud because, everyone always comments to us what a well-spoken and nice boy he is. With our vehicle packed to max capacity, we ventured out to Brunswick, Georgia airport each with our own heavy heart. We did not leave Port Royal as early as we had hoped and made it to the airport only in time to grab a very fast bite to eat with one another and it was time for Donavan and me to board. I was crippled with anxiety and the most forceful feeling of pain, having to hand Lilah back to her daddy as we approached security. It felt like my heart was being ground up by razorblades and spat out through both my eyes. Our journey on to Baltimore began with a very long layover in Atlanta and then finally arriving in Baltimore at 8pm. Long Day! Sandi and her daughter Ra picked us up and that was a huge relief, great people! Unfortunately a flight attendant took Donavan’s laptop and put it in the overhead compartment at takeoff from Atl to BWI and we walked right off the plane without it! When we arrived at the HP house it was a very warm and comfortable feeling until my poor son realized we had just left his computer. He spent last Christmas with his grandma in TX and that was her gift to him because Donavan spends so much time confined to bed…… L
All day today we filled out online lost unchecked property forms…Praying tomorrow gives it back to him! He is so down! We have been very sluggish today and we wandered out to the main hospital to eat a salad for supper and then came home to Skype with John and Lilah <3 It was very difficult me, I thought for sure it would make me feel much better. I need to develop a thicker skin as soon as possible. Donavan’s tension is rising rapidly. He can’t sit still and has been asking me obscure questions all day long that have made me shake my head. Example: “Mom, what would happen if I just started walking right after surgery and didn’t use my wheelchair at all?”…..I couldn’t believe that one. Not like him, but I know he was simply trying to occupy his mind with useless chatter. He has matured so much with each surgery he has. In the beginning at 12, he had all kinds of stress face phases. There was the stress face of…. YOU ARE GETTING TOO CLOSE TO MY LEG!!!! face…. And the… YOU ARE GETTING WAY TOO CLOSE TO MY HANDY DANDY TRAVEL URINAL & ARE GOING TO KNOCK IT OVER!!!! face… and the YOU ARE IN MY WAY AND I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE IT TO ANYWHERE I CAN VOMMIT face….. Now at just 14 he stressfully anticipates not having his music to listen to and what he is going to wear for 6 months while braced and in a chair. He asks me how he will get his haircut because he is NOT going out for it in any chair or walker.. Also there are the questions I dread, like “Mom what if I am not walking when school starts?”………………….pain. L
Tomorrow when we wake, it will be to track down his computer and then make the MOST of his LAST…. “walking”…. day before surgery on Wednesday here in Baltimore! Let me leave you with something on a more cheery note, if you have a droid phone, it has an app you can download called “barcode scanner”. Donavan amused himself throughout our lengthy Atlanta layover using my phone to scan everything around us within about a 50 ft. radius :D Please enjoy the photo’s we chose to post for tonight’s blog, they tell the story of the last 2 day's. Please notice : The MAILBOARD thats full of cards (its our neigbors here at HP) see Donavan's is empty, HELP us fill it with love and encouragement PLEASE.Goodnight C:
Donavan Halpin
c/o The Hackerman Patz House
2434 West Belvedere Ave
Baltimore, MD, 21215
