October Birthdays

We started celebrating October birthdays right away with Ruby on October 5th. She was so excited to finally have her turn to have a birthday party and turn three years old. Ruby is the family's baby and we all are loving watching her learn and grow. She is a very happy little girl, almost always smiling, and so thrilled to be included in anything Leo and June are doing. She loves her gymnastics class, playing outside, and chatting with anyone/everyone. She is obsessed with riding her plasma car, doing puzzles, and animals. She keeps us all giggling with the cute things she says, and her creative dance movements. Thanks to modern technology we can see her darling expressions and hear her cute little voice. She brings such joy to our family.

Lee spent a couple of weeks back in the hospital clearing up two infections, one in his bladder and another in his bloodstream due to the dialysis catheter in his chest. They removed the dialysis catheter and over the two weeks his kidneys were able to sustain an acceptable level so that he was able to discontinue dialysis. He was finally discharged from the hospital on October 8th, just in time for Tara to come over and celebrate her birthday weekend with us. We made a birthday celebration out of every meal, including yummy takeout from Russo's, and put her birthday candle in a create-your-own brownie sundae! Tara brings a celebration with her every time she comes to visit. She is generous to a fault, and is always anxious to share gifts with everyone. She definitely lives up to her nickname, "Sparkle," and always adds some sparkle everywhere she goes.

The day after Lee was discharged from the hospital he had to go for a covid-19 test in preparation for a bladder stone procedure coming up. The test came back "abnormal" which was considered positive, and left no doubt that he was exposed to the virus while in the hospital the previous two weeks. He didn't exhibit symptoms of corona for a couple of days, but eventually spiked a fever and had to be admitted to the covid unit at Methodist Hospital downtown, where he was isolated. His symptoms continued to get worse over the next couple of days and he was admitted to the covid ICU on October 16th. His lungs filled with fluid, and the virus raged on and he finally gave consent to be intubated and put on a ventilator on the 24th. So, since then he has been sedated and tied down, and continues to fight for his life.