Apprehension, Transition and Photos

It is Monday and this week already had me feeling apprehensive and anxious. Today was just the start and I am labeling Sunday, the 13th, as "D" Day. That is the day Giovanni will be admitted to the hospital and remain there for approximately 45 days (depending on his condition). *Sigh*...Breathe In, Breathe Out.

Today was a series of appointments that started at 9:30am. We got home around 5pm. All of the tests being done this week are so they have a baseline pre-treatment. We started the morning with an abdominal ultrasound. He was not a fan. Following that, he had his dressing changed from his last surgery and they used a scalpel to remove the stitches. REALLY not a fan of that either. It truly made me sick to my stomach to see the look on his face. It was a questioning fear type of look....a, "Mommy, why" kind of look. It adds to the emotions I have about all of this. It is very hard.

We then were instructed that he had to stay away awake and have a full belly prior to his 2pm EEG. That gave us a couple of hours so we walked over to look at the little "zoo" at the hospital and then to eat lunch. He was SO tired. He woke up this morning at 6:30am and had only napped about 15 minutes on the walk over to the hospital. I hated keeping him awake but he enjoyed the time walking around on the hospital grounds (a pavillion area where everyone sits), watching the pigeons and trying to feed them (trying because he preferred to keep the crackers for himself. He fell asleep VERY quickly in the MRI as soon as I started feeding him but I had to wake him up after about 45 minutes so they could complete the last part of the test. He wasn't happy again. As soon as we left to head to his final two tests of the day he fell asleep in my arms again. We made our way through the hospital halls with Laura. It was an absolute maze. I had no idea on the property where we were since we were underground and had seemingly walked a couple of blocks. It is these moments that I have that, "What the hell am I doing here" feeling. It all happened so fast and here we find ourselves in Italy walking the halls of a hospital taking our sweet boy to tests after tests.

He had a very short dental examination followed by a echocardiogram. He of course, passed all tests with flying colors.

The week holds many more. Tomorrow morning we take him bright and early for an MRI. They use full sedation which I hate but it has to be better than with Liviana when she woke up half way through and started screaming. He then has psychological evaluations, motor skill evaluations, nerve conduction tests and I forget what else this week. Wednesday Liviana will have another Physical Therapy appointment. I really adore her Physical Therapist. She is a sweet, compassionate woman who has so much affection and caring for Liviana and Giovanni.

In the middle of it all we were "supposed" to origially move on Monday and it changed to Thursday and now it may be Friday or sometime thereafter. It better be before Sunday because after that I won't be around as much because of Giovanni's hospitalization and I really wanted to have that experience with the kids. They are excited but going through a, "I miss Omaha, when can we go home" phase so I wanted to make the transition fun for them and help make sure they feel comfortable and at home in the new place. I am struggling with them being away from school and their friends. I haven't done a good job keeping them up with their classmates and sending things to them. I don't want anyone to forget Aria and Miles. Tarah is doing a great job keeping them up on thier learning and lessons. They are very smart and so excited to learn new things. It is the friends and social interaction part they are missing that worries me. Aria met a little boy at the Pizzeria tonight when she went with Brad to get dinner. She was so excited that he came over and talked to her and that he was only a year old than her. I have been told their are kids around our new place so I am hoping she will get a chance to play with others close to her age.

I have more to share about the new place and the experience Brad and I had going to the town and another nearby. I will probably be doing more blogging while Giovanni is in the hospital so I will share more of these little stories.

I feel like this post is rather whiney and I apologize. I think I am in a mood tonight so I will wrap up this post by sharing some photos since we have been here.

Thank you all for your continued support. We truly need each and every bit of it. Again , I have not responded to all the messages I have been sent but will try to get through them in coming weeks. I just don't get on the computer much and when I do it is like a drive-by computer session.

I took Giovanni and Liviana out for photos yesterday. Tarah was my trusty assistant as we tried to capture photos of the two to commemorate their 1st and 3rd birthdays and their affection for one another. Liviana adores her "G-Mawny" and Giovanni has discovered that his big sis is pretty cool to hang out with and play games. Here are few from their photos. I hope to take them out again in some of the fabulous Milano streets someday soon. I hoped to do it before he went into the hospital but I am not sure if that will happen now. The logistics without a vehicle is a challenge and there is already a jam packed week ahead of us. These were taken on the outskirts of a very large park nearby.















































































































































Did you see her standing? She is such a strong, amazing little girl. Never Gives Up! Her posture is worrying me a bit and she has good and bad times throughout the day with how straight she sits. She was taking a nap in the stroller when we got to the location for the photos so she was a little "slumpy" in the photos. Still so beautiful. Giovanni is a crack up. He ran towards me many times so I have walking photos too.

These photos are from D'uomo. I shared information about the church a few posts ago. They had two areas for lighting candles for prayer intentions. The kids wanted to light candles for Liviana and Giovanni. It was a special moment for all.








































These below are from the Pasticceria by our hotel. The lady makes all of the cakes, pastries and chocolate treats herself. She is SO sweet and looks so tired from all of her baking. The entire bottom row was all homemade pasta. Go figure I am more intrigued by the pasta. The third photo is of some of her sweet treats that I brought home for the kids one night.




























































This is a random shot from an outing Aria and I took around the area. I have more shots of her I need to get up too.



This is a little grouping of shots from Giovanni's room from the first hospital stay in the party floor (See previous post). He looked so small in such a giant room. It seemed to be a metaphor for all we are facing. The tub photo is from our hotel room.





This last shot is from our room. Liviana and Giovanni didn't have a place to sit to eat since we got here. Livi sat on the "couch" to eat and Giovanni was on our laps or walking around while eating. It was a disaster for both and I noticed Giovanni wasn't eating as much compared to when he was in a high chair. We got these seats that attach to the table so we could take them with us when we eat out since all places don't have child seats. They were both so happy and they and ate and ate...as you can see...everyone else was done and they were still going. We just thought their little legs looked so cute dangling down :).




That is all for now. I am hoping to feel a little renewed tomorrow after Giovanni's MRI. Brad and I have to go to Ikea to get stuff for our new apartment. It is supposed to be furnished but is lacking all kitchen stuff, two beds, a dining table, linens, towels, etc. They told us they would reimburse us to a certain amount for the things we need. I know, it is torture going to Ikea in Milan but we will do what we have to do (my joke for the day).

Hug Your Babies!

Amy