Life is Good. Summer 2019.

I intended to write a blog post for our 2nd Transplantaversary; but we've been so busy with really wonderful and normal stuff that I'm just getting to it now.  On June 8th we celebrated the second anniversary of Porter's liver transplant.  I remember writing in a previous post, marking Porter's first birthday, that it felt like so much longer than one year had passed.  The lack of sleep and constant state of stress made one year feel like two or three.  Well, I'm happy to say that the past two years have flown by for us.  Porter is doing better than we had imagined.  He still has regular blood tests to monitor his immunosuppression and the integrity of his liver graft but even those have become less frequent the further out from transplant we get.

Porter is eating well now.  We still use his G-tube for medications and to ensure adequate caloric intake and hydration but it is just a safety net now rather than the life line it was before.  Believe it or not, our biggest struggle with Porter right now is potty training.  Two years ago I never would have imagined that my predominant worry about my medically complex and fragile son would be that he might not be potty trained in time for preschool to start in the fall.  It helps to remember that when I am changing yet another soiled diaper.

After school let out in June we took our first ever family vacation to Cape Cod.  We rented a house with our good friends and had a blast exploring the sand and tide pools.  Katie collected every shell, bone, and crab part she could find and then proceeded to classify and catalog them in what was our arts and crafts drawers.  The arts and crafts materials are now all mixed together in one big bin but the dead sea creatures (whole and partial) are very organized.  We also enjoyed the Cape Cod Rail Trail (Porter is riding a pedal bike...no training wheels!?!) and lots of delicious ice cream.

We had a pretty low key Fourth of July week and then set out on our second adventure: camping in southern Vermont.  Chris and I were campers before kids and we are determined to be campers with kids.  We hiked in about a mile from the trail head to our cabin and had a peaceful, beautiful few days hiking, building fairy houses, climbing trees, "hunting" for bears, eating s'mores, and not worrying that we were three hours from the nearest Level 1 Trauma Center.  It was AWESOME.

In the fall Katie will enter first grade and Porter will begin preschool.  Until then we plan to spend the long summer days together biking, swimming, exploring, reading, and eating lots more ice cream.