August 25, 2009 HOME SWEET HOME !!!

After being away from home for a month Shannon, Kayla and I headed home for the first time. It could not have come at a better time. We are beyond physically and phsycologically exhausted and being back at home is an amazing blessing. I literally cried as I came down the street to our home.
I cannot even begin to thank the absolutely amazing firefighters of the Palo Alto Fire Department. They have been working non-stop, day and night to repair our aging home to make it weatherproof for our family. They completely replaced our leaking roof that had three separate leaks and I can't even begin to tell you how absolutely amazing it looks. As I came down our road I looked up at our home and I couldn't believe that it was our home. The roof looks incredible! As we pulled up we were greeted with absolutely amazing landscaping that made our home look like something out of a magazine. Then we went inside and were blown away again. They completely re-painted, re-sheet rocked and re-did everything inside. We know have a central air and heating system that will keep us warm in the winter and be able to keep us cool in the summer. When I mean cool, I mean chill a beer in the middle of my living room. Amazing! We even have new sky lights in the living room and in both bathrooms. No longer do we have to worry about that pesky mildew that ruins our bathrooms. Shannon and I were also amazed at all the new base board and fresh paint that made our home look so bright. On top of all this they cleaned it to a spit shine that would make a military drill sergeant happy. Here I sit at midnight once again feeling tired but happy, comfortable and thankful for all their hard work. I wish there was a word that was stronger than thank you. Thank you to all the wonderful firefighters that have transformed our home and our lives. You truly are amazing and I am so thankful to be able to call you all family. We are forever in your debt and will always remember what you have done for us.
I can't wait for Gabe to be able to come home and enjoy our new home. Gabe is hanging tough and continues to amaze us with his determination and will. The last couple of days have been challenging to say the least. I will try to make a long story as short as possible. After re-adjusting Gabe's chest tube two times and using the "draino", it is unclogged and working as it should. We sat down with our wonderful doctor "B" who informed us that they are planning on getting Gabe down to get an MRI possibly on Friday. He also told us that Gabe has a large amount of protein that is leaking out around his lungs. This fluid is beginning to form strands that connect his lungs to his lung cavity, which is not good. He will be consulting with the chest specialists who will hopefully give us a way to deal with this. Gabe is also very dependent on his steroids, which he doesn't like us to take away. Doctor "B" thinks that Gabe may not be naturally producing enough of his own steroids to keep him going so we will be looking at his adrenal glands to make sure they are working correctly. Of course this will all be assessed with his MRI. We are also hoping to start Gabe back on eating again at the end of the week, which we hope will somehow help the little man. We are still waiting on the results of his liver biopsy and will update you all as soon as we hear. Please continue to keep Gabe in your prayers. Thank you all and talk to you soon.