#GiveThanks

Lee remained in ICU at Houston Methodist Hospital the entire month of November, so I tried very hard to focus on the many blessings we have to be thankful for. On November 7th he was moved out of isolation from the Covid-19 ICU to the Liver Transplant ICU and I was finally able to visit him for a couple of hours each day. Although he remains sedated and unresponsive, it was such a blessing for me to be able to hold his hand and feel close to him. Doctors performed tracheostomy surgery on November 13th to place the entry of the ventilator into Lee's throat and remove the intubation tube. The goal now is to help him wake up and see if he can breathe on his own. Unfortunately, he has not been stable enough yet to sustain himself without sedation, so they are very slowly weaning the sedation. In anticipation of a surge in Covid-19 cases after the holiday, the day after Thanksgiving the hospital again closed the doors to any visitors, so I am back to living in the nightmare of being unable to be with him at all.

We decided to postpone our traditional Thanksgiving dinner until Lee is home and can enjoy it with us, whenever that turns out to be, but we enjoyed a scaled down version with some of our favorite dishes. Tara was able to come over and spend the entire Thanksgiving week, so we had time for lots of holiday activities. Tara and I got up early on Black Friday to hit the super sales, and were 100% successful in snatching up the items we were shopping for. One evening all of us lined up on the kitchen island with our own canvas and followed a Cinnamon Cooney tutorial to paint a Christmas scene. It was so fun to see that each painting was unique even though we all followed the same instructions!

November 30th is the birthday of our oldest grandchild, Max, and this year he celebrated the exciting 16th benchmark birthday. Max is such a special young man. He is super smart, very talented, and a friend to everyone. He has a tender heart, and is incredibly loving and kind. He is a devoted athlete, a Jr. Olympic swimmer, and now a licensed driver! It is a great blessing to be his grandparents, and we love him so much.