Happy Day

Some of you who follow me on Twitter may know that I’ve been participating in “The 100 Happy Days Challenge.” Today there is no question in my mind about what made me happiest! Zach was weaned off of the paralytic today and this morning he began waking up. It happened while his parents were in his room visiting with some friends. Marnie said there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. She sent a message and the word spread like wildfire around school as teachers all shared the news.

I wanted to give Marnie a big hug just to let her know how happy this news made me. Drew had a baseball game tonight with an hour practice before so I decided I’d go and make a quick visit with her before the game.
I got to the hospital expecting there to be a room full of visitors like Friday but it was just Marnie there with Zach. I went into his room and gave Marnie a huge hug. She was beaming. Her eyes which were so filled with sadness just a few days ago were radiating with joy.
I stood with her at Zach’s bedside and she said I could hold his hand. He was aware I was there and even tried to smile when I spoke to him. He still isn’t moving much and is on major doses of pain medications. He squeezed my hand and wiggled his wrist when his mom asked if he could move his arms. He smiled at his accomplishment. His eyes stayed closed most of the time but fluttered open when we spoke to him. He even seemed like he wanted to jump into the conversation a few times… or maybe he was just trying to get us to stop talking about him!!
Understandably, Marnie doesn’t want to leave his side now. She asked me if I would stay with him while she ran to the bathroom. Of course I did and I talked to him the whole time. The USA soccer game had just started and I commented on a player’s hair style. Zach actually lifted his eyes to the television saw what I was talking about gave a small smile.  He almost seemed to laugh.
Before I left, his mom was talking to me about a message a friend had sent to her. The friend wanted to get ice cream for their other two boys. Marnie was thinking out loud about what flavors they would want. She mentioned that their youngest son likes cookie dough  their oldest likes…”hmmm” she wondered out loud, “I think he likes fruity flavors.” At that Zach nodded and mouthed, “fruity.”  “Ben likes fruity Zach” She asked and he mouthed back, “Me!”
I promised him I’d bring him any flavor he wanted just as soon as he was allowed to have it!!
I gave Marnie a if hug goodbye and squeezed Zach’s hand. He gave me a a squeeze back. I went to Drew’s game which happened to be at the field right next to the one Zach’s brother was playing on. I stopped by his game too and all of their cougar ball players were there. The families were all in such great spirits knowing what an amazing day Zach had today. He’s a fighter and we are all here cheering him on!