I remember watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on tv with my dad when I was a kid. Throughout the parade the announcers would always bring up the fact that Santa Claus would soon be upon us. That kept me glued to the tv. Of course, Santa's position in the parade was like the caboose on the train - always destined to be last. In order to catch the main attraction I had to sit through all of the other stuff like the singers, dancers as well as all the Snoopy and Underdog balloons.

After two agonizing hours of sitting through the fluffy stuff the moment was upon me. Finally the big guy himself. Santa Claus was on center stage. I was at the edge of my seat. Upon Saint Nick's arrival the cameras would show the jolly guy surrounded by lots of elfin type people prancing around in green tights. I was about to be dazzled. But based on Santa's stature, he was way past the prancing phase of his life and thus managed only a wave from his sled and then it was over. The credits began to roll.

Only a wave?
No flying reindeer?
No magical toys?
I sat through all of those commercials for this?

I felt jipped.

Waiting for discharge from The Children's Home is on par with sitting through the commercials. At first we were waiting for the home health nurses to get on board with Zachary's schedule. Thankfully that part is behind us. Check. Then we were waiting the Children's Transplant team to coordinate all of Zachary's medical information with their Johns Hopkins counterparts. Again, that part is done. Check. Transportation from PA to MD? Done. Check.

Like the parade, the fluff in Zachary's discharge plan is over. The big event was soon upon us. Monday was marked as the day Zachary would be discharged. We were ready to leave The Children's Home and hang out with the rest of his family, our dog and our home. Monday was not just a penciled in suggested date. It was marked in ink . . . and red ink at that! The future was soon upon us and history was waiting to be recorded. I was giddy with excitement.

B U T . . . (you probably saw this coming)

For some unknown reason, one of the Maryland medical supply vendors backed out from their commitment. This abrupt change forced us to scramble for a Plan B supply company which in turn set our discharge date back a few days (or more). Granted, a few extra days of time in Pittsburgh isn't alot when you consider that we have already been here for 14 months but that's not the point. I'd really like to find this company's knucklehead employee who made this decision and pelt him/her with a large assortment of Halloween gourds found at the local grocery store.

Enough of that. Now on to something less organic.

Lately I've noticed that Zachary is gradually losing the "fat face" often associated with post transplant steroids. Other signs of growth are appearing as well, like a resurgence of hair growth and the addition of more teeth. Zac even has a new set of hearing aids that are allowing him to listen Thomas the Train videos as well as the Chuck Norris movie marathon on Spike TV.

Zachary's quality of hearing is still subject to a best guess. Until he is able to sit in a sound proof booth and raise his hand when he hears a high pitch noise Deanna and I will have to play close attention to his present day body language for signs of his hearing ability. All in all, he continues to make great strides of improvement here at The Children's Home.

So if we have to wait for a later discharge date we will past the time by taking a few more walks outside and watching a few more hours of television inside.  In the meantime I'll round up some more gourds.

Brian & Deanna
johnjoss22@msn.com