Yesterday morning, we left Zanesville, Ohio and drove just under three hours to Cincinnati...in yet more snow. The roads were totally clear, but the visibility was a bit of an issue, especially when the windshield wiper that made this constant squeaky noise decided to no longer clean the windshield...and then I ran out of windshield washer fluid. Let's see. Driving 75 mph down the interestate with lots of trucks and other cars and not being able to see out of the windshield doesn't strike me as the wisest of choices. So, we gave great thanks for a gps that could locate an Advance Auto Parts just three miles off the interestate who actually had the windshield wipers in stock and whose employee very graciously put them on the Buick for me. A clean winshield with no squeak...it's the little things in life that we should appreciate!

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes early. Not that it mattered. After we checked in, they kinda misplaced his chart. An hour and a half later, I asked how much longer. Tanya, the receptionist, profusely apologized and went to locate his chart. Voile'. Moments later, he was called to radiology for his umpteenth cervical xray. We were told we would be put in the next available room, but someone did not get that memo. Finally, 2 1/2 hours after our appointment time, we actually laid eyes on Dr. Crawford.

Dr. Crawford is a tall, well-spoken, clarinet-playing older gentleman. He always smiles and yesterday, profusely apologized for our getting lost in the system. We could have gotten totally bent out of shape over it, but really, what is the point. It was an honest mistake. We were here for the sole purpose of seeing Dr. Crawford, which we did.

Yesterday at breakfast I had asked Will how he was feeling about this appointment. He basically stated he wanted out of the brace but didn't expect for that to happen. After the last MRI and xray, we were led to believe that the fusion between the base of the skull and C1 were not happening. Two months later, Dr. Crawford is totally pleased with the progress and tells Will he can have a smaller brace. At first it didn't register, but then reality dawned. Yep. He now has a small squishy little brace that basically is there to remind him that his neck muscles are way too weak and he needs to strengthen them with certain exercises. We return in April for a CT scan and hopefully, maybe, he will be able to come out of the brace altogether. But there are no promises on that. Needless to say, Will came out with a huge grin and asked if he could burn the big brace. :)

We are staying with Becky and Keith in their amazing basement apartment. Even as I type this, I am sitting in front of a fireplace and contemplating how amazingly the Lord has cared for us over the last year. When we were in Cleveland in December 2009 and received the news of what was ahead for us, our world was totally rocked. Even then, we had no idea how incredibly difficult all of this was going to be. But what is even more incredible is how the body of Christ has supported us in every way.

So today, we are quite happily hanging out with an IV and getting ready for the return drive. I will let Will sleep tomorrow as long as possible, and we will likely start driving somewhere around noon. We'll stop somewhere tomorrow night if we get too tired, and that puts us home sometime Friday afternoon.