Seven Years to the Day

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it was seven years ago today that I posted quite possibly the saddest message of my life to the Internet, trying to get the word out to friends and family, many of the same people in fact that have been keeping up with this blog since Feb 15, that Doug Myres had left us just before midnight the night before.

It somehow seems no strange coincidence that today I get to post a very happy message, to tell you that our son gets to come home tomorrow. We got the word today from Dr. Dekowski that his breathing studies looked really good and that Douglas is all clear to come home, and will not be needing a monitor sent home with him, which is a great relief. Maw and I are headed back up there in a few hours, hopefully for the very last time we'll ever need to visit St. David's Hospital, and especially the NICU. We will spend the night there with Doug in a special room they have set up like a hotel room, with no monitors, nurses coming in, etc. A little dry run to make us all feel better about bringing him home tomorrow morning and doing the same thing with him at home tomorrow night.

I suppose in the back of my mind, at least for the last couple of weeks, I was wondering if little Doug might get sent home today, because as soon as we got word this morning, my thoughts turned to the calendar and to our long lost friend whom we proudly named our son after. While we were visiting the hospital earlier today, I was reading some of the letters from Doug's memorial site, which still bring the tears as quickly today as they did seven years ago. We still miss Doug in our family and extended family deeply every time we think of him, and he still serves as the greatest inspiration for how we will attempt to raise this special boy who has fought so hard to get here.

Here are a couple of pix ... one of Douglas the day after he was born and one we took today just before waking him up to breastfeed. Pretty crazy stuff. Thanks to all of you who have been so amazingly supportive to our family through all of this, and we will keep you posted on how things go when he comes home. I hope all of you who haven't gotten to meet Douglas can come see him soon.

Paw