for the constant support they are offering us regularly!

He only had one bronchitis, about 3 weeks ago, but he managed to recover and, happily, there was no need for us to be stationed in the hospital, we gave him the treatment at home and it worked well.

But now I have some great news to give you. We are very happy and we want to share Andrei’s success with you. Since Friday, 4th of April, Andrei is without Oxygen tubes in his nose! Starting from the 2nd of April, we had seen while monitoring his oxygen saturation, that he is doing very well, so we had stopped giving him additional oxygen. On Friday he was still doing good, so we took our chances and took out the tubes. With God’s help, he still is at this moment without them. He manages to breathe by himself, without any supplementary oxygen!

If you tell this to a doctor, he or she would say it’s normal, that it was supposed to happen at some point, but for me it’s not easy to describe the feelings I had that day. First of all, I was euforic. Unsecure. Trustfull. Afraid. Hopefull. And so, all of these feelings led to the fact that, for about an hour after I took the tubes out, I trembled. Not of fear, but excitement. I knew nothing bad could happen, because I would have been able at any moment to put back the oxygen tubes and turn on the oxygen. Anyway, during the first 2 days after this, we kept him monitored all the time, to check his oxygen saturation. And still… my hands were shaking because I was happy. Sure, I knew this would have happened at some point in time, I had hoped it would, but I guess it had not occured to me that THAT was the moment.

I know it is a little difficult to understand all this loong story if you don’t go through something like this (and, honestly, I wish NOONE to have go through something like this) but maybe it helps a little if I also tell you that I had never seen him before without the oxygen tubes in his nose or some other form of breathing assistance, in his entire life, that is for 2 years and 30 days, for more that a few minutes, for instance when we were changing the tubes, and at those moments he was crying desperately.

It is very nice to look at that sweet face WITHOUT tubes, to be able to walk around the house with him without stepping on any tubes, it’s nice to know that he can play without getting himself all wrapped up in tubes, for me to be able to dress him up and also to undress him without going through the whole “ritual” of putting the clothes on or out of the tube. There are many things that come together with the oxygen dependency, other than the health problem itself.
And guess what was one of the first things that the little boy did: he put his little exploring finger in each of the nostrils!

It is possible that this is only a good period for Andrei and, when he catches a cold, and most probably after the next (and hopefully last) operation, that he might need the oxygen again. But the fact that he is stable now, without additional oxygen, gives us hope and confidence that he is getting better and that he has made great progress. And, after all, we agreed that we can allow ourselves to enjoy these moments, because we don’t know anyway what the future has “in store” for us, from Andrei’s point of view. We are living right now on the “seize the moment” philosophy. And, happily for Andrei, we are still living this happy “moment”.

I have also put on the website pictures that prove Andrei’s great success.

for the constant support they are offering us monthly!

We thank Mrs. MIHAELA-CRISTINA LAZAR for the donation!

It was a very nice day, we celebrated in the family. Andrei received a lot of presents and got to blow the birthday cake candle .

With this occasion, of course, I think of everyhting that happened in the past year and my conclusion is that it was a good year for him. He was at home almost THE WHOLE TIME, except for one week when he had a pretty bad cold, he had fun, he grew, he developed…

I guess it’s a good moment to make a summary of the past year, right?

- Andrei went for a lot of long, nice walks that he enjoyed very much
- When he was released from the hospital, last year, February 2007, he was diagnosed, among other things, with anemia. Now they say he is too fat
- When he was released from the hospital, Andrei was diagnosed with muscular hypotonie; he could not turn, get into sitting position, he was playing very little, as a small baby. Now, Andrei cannot be stopped from turning and moving, he gets into sitting position by himself, he crawls, he plays nicely. Sometimes it is amazing how fast he understands some things
- When he was released from the hospital, he was only talking like a small baby. Now, he started saying mommy, daddy and to imitate us
- When he was released from the hospital, he did not accept anything in the mouth. Now he started licking with interest whatever we eat, he sometimes bites, chews, he has learnt to coordinate the movements of his tongue
- If you give him 2 fingers to lean to, Andrei manages to raise himself up
- He just learnt to make a few steps forward in the baby walker
- HE LEARNT TO KISS US !
- He laughs and anticipates when you show him you intend to tickle him
- He is starting to respond to simple commands

And for sure there are also other achievements… For now, these were the ones that quickly came to my mind.
May God help us that the future will be at least as good as this past year !

We thank again all of our friends for being close to us and for thinking of us fondly !

for the constant support they are offering us monthly!

We thank Mrs. ROXANA GEORGESCU for the donation!

I want to thank here also my friends who thought of me and congratulated me! I was very happy to see that I have so many friends that have such nice, warm thoughts regarding me and who wish me to get better.

Ever since I managed to sit by myself, I liked it so much that, as soon as I am laid in bed, regardless of the position, I get into sitting. I love to sit, I can look around, reach for the toys, what more can I say, life looks better from this angle. I am telling you, I am unstoppable !

Of course I, in the “key moment”, was not looking, I had just turned to get some food for him, so I don’t actually know how he managed to get into sitting position from laying on the belly. Anyway, it all seemed very normal to him, he only had a lot of fun when I started laughing around him, hugging and kissing him . He did not want to repeat it today, but at least he showed me he can do it, so I’m quite happy about that.

I recently also discovered baby biscuits, which are very tasty, I can bite on them and they “melt” in the mouth, so I don’t risk choking. Anyway, I found out how I can take out from my mouth the things I don’t want to chew on, using my fingers .