This week started with a stomach bug at 4:30 a.m. Unfortunately, it continued unabated through most of the day, and when the afflicted’s name is Fulton, that equals a trip to the ER. We struggled with the decision as to which ER to take him to; it was rush hour, do we take him to the closest ER so he can quickly get IV fluids, or do we take a longer slog up the “expressway” to get him to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia? Ultimately we went with the closer option, but wound up getting transferred to CHOP around midnight via ambulance. There were tests, oh so many tests!, that needed to be done and we finally got a few quiet moments to sleep around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. It was the first time I’d truly been awake for more than 24 hours straight and I could barely understand English or form coherent sentences.

Thankfully, the fluids and anti-nausea meds did their job, and all the tests came back normal. After a day of making sure everything was staying down, we were discharged on Wednesday afternoon. It threw only a minor crimp in our Thanksgiving plans which I solved by relying on store bought pie crusts and leaving my house a mess when we traveled to be with family on Thursday.

Now that I’ve consumed all my calories for the next two weeks, I’m looking forward to enjoying time with family. Everyone keeps asking about the house,and I’m happy to say it looks like everything is moving forward, the closing will just be later than originally anticipated due to the seller correcting some things for us first.

Despite all the ups and downs of the past couple weeks, there’s been a lot of blessings and since I believe expressing gratitude is a key part of living a life of joy here’s a few things that have stood out:

Good staff interactions at the local ER and CHOP.

The cafeteria at CHOP.

Fulton doesn’t fuss, or even flinch, when getting an IV any more.

The nurse at Teddy’s school.

Family members who order takeout meals for us from halfway across the country.

For teenagers who can hold down the fort while Tony and I unexpectedly spend hours in the ER.

Grandparents who’ve made time to come and visit multiple times over the last several months as we tackled surgery and now moving.

What are you thankful for this week? Write it down then link it up below. Be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of the Quick Takes. I look forward to reading your posts!