Proceed! {day 13}

It was a quiet night, punctuated by a few fevers from our hero. It didn't seem to wake him, though, and he woke up generally ready to face the day. We made a plan that included a goal of 22 laps (that's a mile, by the way) and got started right away:

Check out Sam's rockin' Team in Training shirt from the awesome group in St. Louis -- amazing.

Then there was a little rest after just a few laps, before our first visitor of the day arrived.
When Karen got here there were puzzles and books....two of her specialties (and Sam's too!)

The new Scaredy Squirrel book! We have a plan!

Sam seemed to wilt a little midday, another fever. I was a little worried, since I knew that one of his best buddies from school was arriving after lunch. Luckily, that perked Sammy up quite a bit, and he and Nick didn't have any trouble entertaining each other, giggling and playing and doing Legos in that great 7-year-old-boy-sort-of-way while Nick's mom, Tammie, and I visited and generally tried to stay out of their way.

They raised the bed up to be nest-like, one of Sam's favorite tricks to show his friends!

Sam's energy faded quite a bit after Nick left. It wasn't entirely about a let-down in the visitor department. He really lost his energy to the persistent fevers he's had most of the day. Not dangerously high, but high enough to buy him two different antibiotics. Hopefully those, combined with the extra fluids and rest, will help him to fight these off and regain his energy. He's just....quiet. Not arguing or fussing, but just...quiet. (We never did finish our laps for today. Sigh.)

Much of the day was spent reading The Last of the Great Whangdoodles. (Karen and my mom each took turns as well!) At one point, this evening, I read for over an hour! I felt like the grandpa in The Princess Bride, as I kept checking in with Sam: "are you tired? should I stop now?" Sometimes he would just shake his head, don't stop. Sometimes he would have that glint in his eye, knowing that I was teasing (after all, I wanted to find out the ending too!). And one memorable time, very near the end of the book, he waved his hand at me in a princely fashion, and said, "Proceed."

I seriously threw my head back and laughed. "Proceed"!? It was awesome. Like working for a young emperor. He grinned a huge Cheshire grin, knowing that he'd been a character. And I was so glad to see that Sam-spark. It's there, just hiding a little bit under the quiet and the tired fevers.

So....dear cells, please proceed with your healing.
We'll be here waiting.