Today I held back tears as I watched Cooper walk into school. My 10 year old’s awkward gait and short stature really struck me as the sun accentuated his silhouette on the way to the door.

He’s now recovering from two surgeries – the spinal decompression and fusion in July as well as the hernia repair last week. As far as the hernia repair goes, Cooper can do whatever he feels up for, but the spinal fusion is still holding him back – no twisting of the spine/back allowed. Which means he still can’t play hockey, swing a baseball bat, or get into a basketball game with his buddies. He’s sad about missing his favorite sports. He tearfully wishes, “I just want to be like everyone else”. From my viewpoint, Cooper’s short stature is his biggest heartbreak. He wants to be on sports teams with his peers. No matter the size of his will and heart, he can’t keep up with competitive kids 18″ taller than him, and at this point, his spine isn’t ready for activity with other kids yet. Every day my heart breaks for him, but especially today.

An hour after drop off, this popped into my inbox from Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation….

Yes, I have more than 400 unread personal emails. I just need a few moments to catch up on life…

But the article makes me cry. It’s beautiful, and it’s beautiful because it’s our story. (Click the title below to read it)

And darn it – we won’t see those Child Life Specialists or any of our nurses this week. I don’t know when we’ll see them next. We’ve decided to move to home infusions. The Children’s Hospital Colorado system is so inundated with sick kids (lots of RSV), that Inpatient has taken over the Infusion Center space at the South campus hospital. So if we want to bring Velocity to a hospital’s Infusion Center, we need to go to North campus’s Infusion Center, an hour away.

Nope. I’m done.

We’re moving home. A nurse will come to our home and give Cooper his infusion there, hopefully after school. No more missing school. Definitely no more driving. Sweaty time won’t be confined to our room. These are all good things. But we’re going to miss the community at South campus. The community who wrapped their arms around us, stood us up and made us laugh for the last 5 years.

Moving to home infusions isn’t a simple task. From what I understand it’s an impressive amount of paperwork, approvals, insurance letters, and doctor’s responses. We hope to be set up for home infusion sometime in December.

So this is an ode to our medical community. We are eternally grateful. We love you and look forward to seeing you inside or outside the hospital very soon. And if we are outside the hospital, oh the fun you can have with Velocity!

Please consider donating to Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Child Life Services on behalf of Cooper and his friends at infusion. They’ve made a world of difference for Cooper and our family, and do so for every child they connect with.