Bodie’s medical team keeps reminding us that transplant recovery is a slow and steady process. That as long as he makes a little progress from one day to the next, they’re happy.

But if you know me, and you know our family, we don’t do slow. Sometimes we do steady. But we definitely don’t do slow.

Well, except for Turtelina, Bodie’s pet turtle. And heck, even she runs surprisingly fast when she’s trying to get away from you.

For 25 years, Dusk has been telling me to use “slower, more calculated movements” (usually when it’s because I’m hopping around the room in agony because I was walking too fast and stubbed my toe on something I never saw coming).

I have perpetual bruises on my shoulders for turning corners too fast and nicking the edge of the wall with my shoulder.

So no, slow isn’t really in my vernacular.

Or in Bodie’s.

With the exception of his Norwood surgery, he has always sped through recovery faster than expected.

So we’re used to being given estimates of healing time and watching Bodie blow right through them, much to everyone’s surprise.

But heart transplant is a whole new ball game.

His medical team has told us to expect a year for full recovery.

Needless to say, God is teaching us patience.

This entire hospitalization and recovery is about patience.

So using that as our litmus test, at a week out of the hospital, Bodie is right where he should be.

Dusk has been up and it has been so wonderful for both Bodie and I to have him here.

We are forcing Bodie to take two walks daily, as well as doing the stairs at the hotel at least once.

Bodie hates it. Takes breaks whether or not he needs them. And negotiates consistently.

But we’ve finally agreed that he has to do one lap around the pond here, and one set of stairs, twice a day. Every additional lap and set of stairs we will pay him $1 for (and his uncle Paul has agreed to match it!). As motivated as he is to earn money, his body isn’t quite ready for the challenge yet. So no money has been earned yet. But hopefully soon!

And I try to focus on the positives where I can. Like this flower. That wasn’t blooming yesterday. And greeted us on our walk today. Little changes, day by day. Much like Bodie.

He has had two clinic appointments at the hospital so far, and both have gone well. His labs all look good and his echoes continue to look stable, which is wonderful.

He had his last of bi-weekly IVIG infusions in the short stay unit of the hospital overnight on Monday night. It definitely took a lot out of him, and he was pretty exhausted yesterday. But we’re hopeful he’ll be feeling better today. He won’t have another one of those for a month, thankfully.

The rebuilding of the physical stamina is no joke. Things that were easy for him before aren’t even a possibility yet. He tires out sitting in the car for 15 minutes. Or sitting on the floor to build Legos for a half an hour. We do a lot of relaxing in bed and watching TV in between spurts of activity.

The biggest issue he continues to face besides rebuilding his strength and stamina is healing of his vocal cord and coordination of his swallowing. He’s eating two really good meals a day, so we’ve been able to get rid of 2 of his tube feeds. But because he can’t have any liquids by mouth (he’s even aspirating thickened liquids), I replaced those formula feeds with water. Our hope is that he’ll continue to take more and more by mouth so that we can just use the tube for hydration and meds, and eventually get rid of it entirely.

Please continue to pray for Bodie. It’s so easy to think that since he’s out of the hospital, he doesn’t need your prayers any more. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even, as a family who is no stranger to open-heart surgery recovery, this process has shocked us.

We covet your prayers for the following:

1. Please pray that he continues to regain his strength.
2. Please pray that his vocal cords and swallowing muscles return and strengthen so that his voice comes back and we can get rid of the feeding tube.
3. Please pray for patience for all of us as we come alongside Bodie and support him in his healing. Bodie is a very headstrong kiddo, which we’re very grateful for! But that means it’s often hard for Dusk and I to know where to strike that fine line between pushing him hard enough without pushing him too hard in his recovery. Pray for grace for all of us as we continue to dance around that line.
4. Please pray for grace for all for four of us in communicating with each other. It’s hard having the family split and the cracks show more often than we’d like to admit. We’re doing the best we can, but it’s not how a family should function, You can only live in survival mode for so long. We’re all tired and worried and frustrated. We know this is only for a season, but even so, it’s hard in the midst of the season.
5. Please pray for continued generosity from donors. We are so beyond grateful for all of the meal cards and donations to COTA received, particularly as I’m beginning to sift through the hospital and insurance bills. Please continue to share Bodie’s miraculous journey with others you think would like to pray for him and support the COTA for Bodie campaign financially.
6. Finally, please pray for Bodie’s donor family. As I get frustrated with the slow rate of healing and the daunting year ahead of us, I often think of the donor family and how incredibly grateful we are for them. We wouldn’t have the privilege of being frustrated or worried or scared without their selfless gift. I hope some day we can thank them and make them proud through the life of our son.