Justin Attends His First Day Of Preschool / Dad Has Blood Transfusion

11:00 AM: After dropping Kevin off at school, I took Justin and Brian shopping. It was going to be Justin’s first day of school. He needed a backpack, and since he really likes the Cars movie, we went to the Disney Store. There were two sizes of Cars backpacks – he chose the larger one with wheels and a retractable handle. He will be attending preschool three days a week in the afternoon.

1:30 PM: Kenton and I, and Brian dropped Justin off at school. He was very excited to go, and was looking forward to seeing his cousin, who is in the same class. We were there for about 10 minutes with Justin, looking at the different learning centers and play stations. Then it was time for us to go. One of the teachers saw that Justin started to get clingy, so she began a coloring project with him. She told us that we could leave. Kenton and I left, but lingered in the hallway. We thought everything would be fine, but wanted to be near just in case. Then Justin started crying and screaming for me - he got hysterical at one point. The assistant teacher came out and said things would be fine. She asked that we not let Justin see that we were still there (she also mentioned that he was really loud). After 7-8 minutes, Justin calmed down. Then we heard his cousin calling out for his mom and dad. There was also a girl who was sobbing for her mom. After a while, Justin's teacher came out and told us that Justin was fine, and that we could go. After class, he showed off his art project. He said he used paint and a sponge and glue. He even read the poem to me.

2:30 PM: I just got off the phone with Mom and Beryl. The doctor has postponed doing cardiac catheterization on Dad until Wednesday or later. At the moment, the nurses are prepping Dad for a blood transfusion. He still is worried about possible complications, but at this point really doesn’t have a choice. His hemoglobin level has dropped even lower than yesterday to 8.2 gm/dl (the norm for men is between 13.8 to 17.2 gm/dl). He could take iron pills, but it would take 3-4 weeks of taking iron to get his hemoglobin level to normal. Dad can move around a little (i.e. bed to chair to bathroom), but any exertion is difficult and then he has a hard time breathing. He has been taken out of isolation though, and is allowed visitors whenever he would like. We’re planning on heading up to Richmond again this evening.