16 Days Old

Original Text of an E-mail from Douglas to Family/Friends

Alex has had a few good days.   Some of our good friends / neighbors came over last night to see her, they have been very supportive and good friends.  Kim and I have been very blessed with the neighborhood we are in, couldn’t ask for a better batch of friends.  It reminds me of McEwen street in Saginaw, where my grandfather lived.  Everyone knew everyone, everyone helped everyone.  It’s the same here.

Kim and I stayed up with her on New Year’s Eve and kissed her at midnight.   We need to think of new things to show her, we’ve sprinted through all the big things…  now need to work on those marathon goals.  We took her to church again today.  Kim was terrified at the Christmas service that it would be the only church service that she’d be able to attend.  When we talked yesterday about if we should take her Sunday I said “absolutely, we have to prove you wrong.”  Her monitor started to go off a few times during the service (but her color was good), which meant that the sensor was having trouble.  We eventually turned the machine off and just watched her closely.  After the last few days we’re getting more comfortable with how to watch her, how to know when she’s in trouble.  I’m envisioning times when we won’t have her hooked up, but I’m not quite there yet.  With God’s help she continues to defying the odds, but it feels like we’re so far into uncharted waters…. It’s scary.  It’s wonderful, but it’s scary.

Happy New Year everyone.