[stanford_status] Restless night and ramblings on the past day

[John R Larsen]

Hello Everyone,

This is going to be a rambling email.  It's 4:33 AM and I've been 
awake with Stanford all night long.  He has been very restless.  
We've talked about lots of different things.  He was running a fever 
of 100.3 when he went to bed.  He took off his shirt and every hour 
his temperature has dropped back down.  He seems normal now.  His 
heart rate has really gone up.  Just lying in bed it is about 160.  
He got up to use the bathroom about 30 minutes ago and the rate 
stayed about the same but the strength of the beats increased a lot.

He drifts in and out of sleep.  Sometimes when he talks it is a 
little off topic at times.  When he was up and moving around a bit 
earlier he was more awake and conversation was clear.

When I noticed his really high heart rate I woke up Joyce so she 
could come in and be with him.  He said, "Mommy get in bed with me."  
She has been in there with him and he likes that.  She just went 
back to her own bed (4:49 AM) because it was getting too crowded.

On Saturday Stanford slept until about 10:00 AM and then said he 
needed to get started on the day.  He had breakfast and then wanted 
to play with his Wii.  He activated his new Visa debit card from his 
newly opened credit union checking account so that he could buy "Wii 
Points" from the online Wii store using money he has earned at his 
part time job.  With Wii points you can buy games online that get 
downloaded to your Wii console.  He bought the original Mario 
Brothers and "Bomber Man 93".  It is nostalgic watching those old 
games be played.

While Stanford was getting the Wii points Jennifer Seusing, 
Principal of Nashua High School South, came by to visit with him.  
She had talked with him a couple days ago on the phone and asked if 
there were anything she could do for him.  He asked if she had the 
senior DVD and high school graduation from last June.  She found one 
and brought it over, which we really appreciated.  (As some of you 
may remember, Stanford attended his high school graduation between 
emergency room visits that were the start of this whole experience 
we're currently living.)  She learned a lot about the Wii and 
watched some of the old games being played.  She bent down to give 
Stanford a hug when she was leaving, but Stanford said, "I need to 
do this right" and got out of his wheelchair to give her a proper 
hug.

After Mrs. Seusing left Stanford watched some of the graduation 
video.  We saw him come across the stage and get his diploma.  We 
watched him wave his arms as if casting a spell.  He had planned to 
have a wand to wave and something to throw down to make a bang, but 
the first emergency room visit had put a damper on his plans.  At 
the end of graduation when all the balloons are coming down he had a 
party blower in his mouth and was blowing it in and out in time with 
the music.  There were several seconds of him doing that on the 
video.  That's the part that he had most wanted to see because he 
had heard about it from many different people.

On Saturday afternoon a whole bunch of visitors came, mostly 
starting at 5:00 PM.  I made sure he had a nap starting at 3:30.  It 
had been prearranged for some of the visitors to come at 5:00 PM.  
Once they showed up I got Stanford up.  They kept coming in waves.  
At one point there were so many people here that they couldn't get 
in the living room and spilled out into the hallway.  The first wave 
left and the others got into the room. It is very heart warming to 
see how much love everyone has for Stanford.

At 6:00 PM Stanford's Sunday School class came over for an "I Love 
Isaiah" party.  Their class has been studying the Old Testament this 
year and the last few months have been focusing on Isaiah.  The 
culminating event was this party that had been planned to be held in 
a different location.  The other kids had said that if Stanford 
couldn't come that they didn't want to have the party.  Their 
teacher was anxious for Stanford to be able to attend and so were 
we.  They moved the location to our house.  So, for two hours the 
party was in full force.  What a blessing it is to have such good 
friends.

Once the party was over Stanford wanted to play a game of "Magic the 
Gathering", a card game that he really loves.  Stanford and his two 
brothers, Bradford and Phillip, along with two friends from the 
Isaiah party played one game.  By then Stanford was really tuckered 
out and headed for bed.

It's now 5:23 AM.  Stanford is sleeping restlessly.  He wants to go 
to church tomorrow.  Our church meetings start at 11:00 AM.  At 
first he had planned on taking a shower, but that would take so much 
energy that I suggested he just get up and get dressed.

In the morning he wants Apple Crisp for breakfast.  All my kids say 
that I make the "world's best applecrisp".  It takes awhile to 
prepare, so I'll need to start soon.  Bradford also wants apple 
crisp before he heads back to UNH at 11:00 AM.  Joyce's brother and 
wife are also leaving us Sunday.  It will be hard to have all these 
partings at this time.

Well, I just wanted to share a little of how this day has gone.  
Again I've gone a night with hardly any sleep.  I don't want to miss 
any time with my boy.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.  We could sure use a 
miracle right now and we're praying for it.

John
_______________________________________________________
John R Larsen <john at larsen-family.us>
http://larsen-family.us