Elton has had his first taste of America. This afternoon we sniffed different espresso options at Target and strolled through the mall (actually Elton rolled along in his wheelchair). He didn’t say it, but I could see the amazement in his eyes. In addition to the mall’s colorfully illuminated vistas and aroma of cinnamon pretzels, there was the massive herd of people, including the numerous folks with collida (a condition in which one has eaten so many Twinkies that the inside of his thighs collide together). Yes, it was different than Zimbabwe on many levels.
When we arrived home, Angela dished out pizza and I served my new Caribou Mahogany brew of coffee. As of yet I haven’t taught Elton how to twirl linguini with his fork, but we’ll get to that soon enough.
I asked Elton if he wanted anything more and he nonchalantly mentioned that he needed “one factor.” “Factor” is the name of the medication which people with hemophilia receive to stop bleeding. It took me a moment to realize that he was in fact having a bleed and therefore needed a factor infusion. Angela sprung into action, as the photo shows. This was her first time “sticking” someone other than Luke, to say nothing of someone with different skin color. But hey, if you can stick a toddler (as we did with Luke a short while ago) and 18 year-old is a piece of cake.
After the regular routine of intravenous needles and ice (some families play cards; we shoot up) we resumed our viewing of Ben-Hur, which started last night. I made a large bowl of popcorn and relaxed.
You’re probably wondering where our kids have been through all of this. Well, actually, we sent them away. The other night Luke hurled from the stomach flu which I just got over. So as to not take the chance of infecting Elton with illness before his surgery, we sent our boys to my in-laws. So the house has been exceedingly quiet—a good thing for Elton as he overcomes jetlag and gets further acclimated to this strange place. In some ways it feels like our honeymoon all over again, except that we have an African guest in the house.
Tomorrow we’ll be in the city at 6:30am for a full morning of tests at Rush Hospital. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m sure we’ll have some fun memories. With a 5:00am wakeup, this will be the real test for the Mahogany coffee.
