Yontif on the HOT Unit - BMT +9

Yontif is yiddush for Yom Tov, a good day, a holiday, in this case Rosh Hashanah. And it was a good day for the most part. Sam had many great moments where he felt fine and was his rambunctious self.
I thought it would be a quiet Rosh Hashanah with just Sam and I, but was pleasantly surprised when I was able to watch a friend lead services on the west coast after Sam went to bed last night and while he napped during lunch time. I caught the majority of both services and both sermons (Thanks Rabbi Cohen & Temple Beth Sholom for making your live streaming available to everyone!). Oh, how I love modern technology. Phyllis, the kids, Bubbe, Zeyde and Grandma were all in Chicago to celebrate at Am Shalom with our Chicago family. Phyllis was grateful to be on the bima with her other family. Our whole family was embraced by the multitudes. Sometimes being seen is enough to let everyone know that with all their love and support we are still doing well. It is important to be able to go home, even for a moment, to be reminded of what you are trying to accomplish, trying to get back to. 

Sam woke ready for fun and amusement.

(I couldn't resist a shot of this funny "ready for the day" morning face!)

Exercising was just as funny, but a serious necessity when confined to a small room and a single floor. We get our ground game on when we can and sometimes just exercise in bed when that is what he's able to do. 

After exercise we talked some, brought out the old drawing pad and began dreaming big. For the last few days we've been story boarding and designing video games we'd like to create.  We have several in the works, some worth exploring down the road when all this is behind us. Sam is excited, but doesn't understand my programming limitations since he of course thinks that I can do anything. We decided today to create a game where Alien Horses ride rockets to race in space. Sam had fun drawing the images of what he imagined the aliens looked like and what he wanted the rockets to look like. But so that no one got confused he made sure to write above them "Not actual size."

Sam is about where he should be post transplant. He is sleepy, a little nauseous once in a while when the meds don't quite overlap and the pain in his throat and tongue is slowly subsiding. The doctors and a dermatologist checked a slight rash, but found it was just a heat rash possible caused by the heat pad we used to comfort his neck the other night. Needless to say we are not using the heat pad to sleep with tonight. He is a combination of happy go lucky and grumpy, but still mostly happy. We played a wicked game of Monopoly: Here and Now edition on the iPad. Before the nausea returned Sam pulled himself out of a cash slump and rallied to bankrupt me in the end.

Sam slept through his nausea through the later part of the afternoon. This allowed me to complete Sam's homework assignment for me. For several days now Sam has asked if I've learned how to use GameSalad to create a prototype for our video game yet. I've been a little busy. A week ago Eric Winter sent us some images from his new ABC book, All for Beating Cancer. Using the app GameSalad, I insert Eric's dinosaur as the "Boss" in one of the game templates to show Sam that we were making progress in creating our own game app.  He was pretty excited to see that it worked. I mean who wouldn't be excited to see a huge "Boss" Dinosaur flying at you shooting missiles while dodging said missiles and defeating said "Boss" Dinosaur. Very basic, but very exciting to see. We can't wait to show the rest of the world Eric's new book being published with all proceeds going to fund cancer research. Eric has brightened our world since the very first drawing he sent us of Superman Sam and Mega Turtle battling cancer a year ago. We will have to ask for some illustrations of crazy frogs next since in the end Sam wants a game about  flying frogs. You've heard of test dummies? This was our test dinosaur.

And so it goes. A new year to fill with as much sweetness as we can amidst the bittersweet of not knowing what the day to day will bring. We count our blessings more than we curse our challenges. What choice do we have? We celebrate the new year with family and friends, bathing in their blessings and well wishes and sending love and blessings back. Apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah, to remind of us always of the sweetness all our year should be filled with. May we all be written for a sweet and healthy new year.