We made it to her last day of swim class the next morning. She did so well and we had so much fun that I signed us up for the second session. She's getting more comfortable on her back and is getting more bold when picking stuff up off the bottom of the pool as she'll put her chin and mouth in the water now. It's been great working with her in a learning with teacher introduced games environment.
The following Monday, we fed the ducks at the VT duck pond. Nahum joined us from the office and we both marveled at Elijah's reaction to his first duck feeding session. His eyes were glued to the 30 or so ducks bobbing in the water or waddling near by hoping to catch some crumbs. For half an hour, his little brow was wrinkled and his eyes fixed in concentration. I'm learning this is his usual reaction to new places and things. I moved him from the living room to the breakfast nook so he could watch me make dinner. He didn't touch his toys for 20 minutes while he took in everything from the new vantage point. Today Nahum held him while I put toppings on the pizza and he was fascinated. Life is such a puzzle but he's bound and determined to figure it out.
Elijah and I slept and recovered while I got back into the swing of regular life. I got to the pool 4 times for some short but mentally refreshing workouts. The only one I missed was Wednesday when I got two late message from Shayna's transplant coordinator just as I was driving to swimming. I had to turn around in the parking lot and come home to administer some new meds for Shayna. The final results of the liver biopsy had come in. She's in rejection again. It's extremely mild and only effecting bits of the liver, but nonetheless it is rejection. She gets a small, daily dose of the steroid prednisone to fight the rejection with pecid and nystatin to keep some of the side effects in check. I've finally introduced chocolate milk into her life to help her swallow two extremely bitter prednisone pills. (Michael, do you remember the battle we had to get her to take prednisone after she was first released from CHP?) The first two days she bit them a bit while I encouraged her to drink her juice and swallow not chew. She did this little spastic quiver after each bite. Yesterday I introduced chocolate milk hoping it would coat better. Today I think she actually swallowed the pills without biting. I'm still amazed she let me pop them in her mouth after the first time. She just dutifully opens and tries to swallow as instructed. She's also learned to swish the nystatin around in her mouth before she swallows, per the bottle's instructions. It's pretty cute how into swishing she gets.
On our first stop of the drive home from Pittsburgh. I bribed Shayna to sit still while nursed Elijah with a lolly pop. I was going to the car to get the bobby to nurse under this tree when I looked back to check and saw how cute they were so grabbed the camera too. You can see a bit of Elijah's furrowed brow look here as he tries to figure out what Shayna's eating and how he can best get some too.
Chilling out and watching the umpteenth episode of Curious George to survive the drive. Her dog is under her foot in the cup holder.
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