After living inside the four walls of Room 21 for an entire month, JT stepped through the doorway and into the larger world for the first time this afternoon.  It was a good moment.

But some less exciting things came first.  JT has had an increasingly hard time of it with his feeding tube leaking all over the place; Jodi had to change his soaked clothes several times last night due to leakage.  So today the nurses pulled the old feeding tube and inserted a new one:  not pretty.  I went down to the parent lounge during the procedure but could still hear him screaming.  They had to try twice before they got it.  When it was over I went back in and he said, “You’re really upset.  You’re really uncomfortable.”  So to calm him down, we started talking about going exploring. 

Five minutes later, we all had on our green N-95 masks and were stepping across the threshold.  He was still crying but that stopped abruptly once he realized we were really out in the hallway.  Freedom!  After holding our hands for a little bit he told Jodi and me, “Want to walk by yourself” and sure enough, he did.  He tried to run a little bit (which says a lot about his spirit) but his legs are still weak.  Still, he jogged a few paces and was happy.  He tired quickly and asked to be carried back to the room but as soon as we got back he started asking when we could go exploring again.   

So in addition to prayers for protection, praise and thanksgiving are also in order.   Joseph Campbell writes, “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty ‘Yes’ to your adventure."  Today’s first steps are just one more way Jacob is answering the question in the affirmative.