8/4/24

 We finished up cousins weekend and it was sad to say goodbye to everyone. Paul and I stayed behind to help clean up and put everything back so that the in-laws had minimal lifting and work to do. I imagine this weekend tires them out!

We came home and started preparing for our driveway to be redone starting tomorrow. We are set to get our driveway busted up and replaced. We are getting crushed stone for a few weeks and then will have it asphalted after that. 

Ethan’s two chrysalises were hanging from the top of our butterfly cage. It’s an old laundry hamper from GoodWill, but a butterfly cage just sounds better. The one chrysalis had turned clear. You could see the monarch coloring. A little while later it hatched. Ethan will let it go when the time is ready. They typically need 24 hours to get their bearings with their new body.

I broke the news to Ethan this evening that he did have some abnormalities on his heart test that didn’t make sense to the doctor so they want him to get a cath and biopsy done. We scheduled for the end of the month. 

It was described that his test results were normal for someone at rest. They gave him the caffeine to stress his heart and he experienced shortness of breath. They saw his vessels react in a way that was “rare”. Oh…this new team doesn’t even know the half of it. 

I want to say that Ethan can’t catch a break.  I have said those words in the past. I was thinking about it today about how he has one thing after another. I do wish things were different for him, but this is our reality and we have to accept it. It seems like there is something around every corner.

 I think of the folks on our transplant page. While Ethan can’t catch a break, there are others in our group that have worse battles. It reminds me to be grateful for what we have. Reframing is a coping skill I have found useful.

I have been carrying this news throughout the weekend quietly, so it wouldn’t offer a heaviness to a weekend that is supposed to be fun. I do have a sense of worry with this. I don’t always have that, so I am hoping my worry meter is malfunctioning. Whatever is found, we will rise to the occasion. We need to keep Ethan and his donor, Nicole, to keep moving forward.

Lots of chores were completed today. I am ready to tackle the next week. Paul is having a colonoscopy this week. He has never had one. He is about to enter the exciting world of a “no gambling” zone. 

There will be plenty of poop jokes at the Diiulio house this week. But that doesn’t really differ from any other week.