A Much Needed Break

Piper is in Olympia now and is hanging out with her brother, Riley. Aren't they cute!?

Last night Alistair had an unrestful night, as did we. He was agitated off and on. I think he got some good stretches here and there, but not restful all night. I think part of the problem is that he has a nagging knot in his right shoulder/neck area that is bothering him. He is also dealing with some muscle tension in his left arm and involuntary tightness, which makes it hard to relax. We were up early this morning. We knew we had lots of visitors today, so we took it easy and eased into the morning. We did Saturday morning cartoons and some lemonade until breakfast arrived. Then we got dressed and were ready to go. Gillian and Natalie came with Nana and Papa and Uncle Jeff also came. We also had Grandma join us today! It was a full house! 

It got real for Gillian today. She thought she was coming to the house to see Alistair and was surprised when she came to the hospital. I took her down the hall to chat and cry after she sat and watched Alistair for a while. She is very sad for her brother and kept telling me she "didn't like this and wished things were different!" Don't we all. She also kept asking how long it would take to make him better. When we got home she told us she didn't want to go to Papa's Retirement Party to the beach if Alistair couldn't go. She is still balancing this out with her own self interest and not getting to spend time with us, but I know deep down she is scared for her brother and wants him to be better.

Alistair had a fairly large emotional breakdown this morning after seeing Natalie. You could say it was his sister and other family members, but I really think it was Natalie. They have a fairly close cousin relationship, it was just them for quite a while before the other cousings came along and I know he thinks the world of her. I think she is pretty fond of him too and she is very sweet and caring. As much as anyone prepped her, she was still affected by seeing him and I think he responded to that and also just that he couldn't do a simple thing like say, "Hi" to her. Everyone took a break and then we all got back together and went on a field trip to the roof top garden. 

Seth and I took off early afternoon to grab Gillian who had left sooner with my brother and Natalie. We left Alistair in the very capable hands of his grandparents. Grandma stayed for a few hours and visited with Alistair as well as my parents. My parents are staying with Alistair tonight so we could be with Gillian at home and have some family time. We didn't do anything exciting or special other than just be at home. I think Gillian appreciated being in her room with her stuff, although we found her on her bed listening to Frozen and thinking about Alistair. 

Later this afternoon, in a text exchange, Seth found out that Alistair's Physical Therapist , Brian, came to visit him. Alistair had been seeing him since October. We were very touched that Brian thought enough about him to come visit him and shared some personal stories with Alistair. I hope that he comes to visit again as I think Alistair liked Brian and I think Brian might have some ways to motivate Alistair down the road. Thanks, Brian, for coming down!

Here's to everyone having a quiet night tonight...here and at the hospital. Tomorrow will be another quiet day. We have resigned ourselves to the fact that nothing will happen until Monday. But if things don't get moving on Monday toward Rehab, we will not sit quietly!