Thumbs up...

Connor,

Since you arrived here on this planet just over a month ago you have begun to touch people on a global scale. If you were an airborne virus people would be referring to you as an epidemic, if you were a youtube video you would have quickly been deemed "viral", and if you were a television show you would probably be lining up for awards in the very near future. But you are none of those things, you are a little boy with a big heart and a will that even your name can't even begin to describe in terms of its strength.

Every day that passes brings another "oooohhhhh wow! look how good he is doing" from some unsuspecting nurse or doctor who hasn't seen you in a while. Today you got a visit from one of your fans, a woman who used to help clean your room when you were over in the other POD. She stopped in to talk to daddy about her upcoming trip to Africa and all the shots she has to get to be ready for it and she poked her head in your blankets for a little peak. "WOW, look at all that hair on such a tiny little man!" was the reaction I heard from across the room. Another fan for life I bet.

This morning I want to tell you about one person in particular who has been seeing you more and more lately. His name, as I know it, it Dr. Ileus. It has been partially explained to me that his name is not actually Dr. Ileus but rather something much longer with a few extra syllables in it. I haven't heard that first hand so for now I am going to just continue down my path of blissful ignorance and call him by his short name.

Dr. Ileus is from Greece, and he has a little bit of a funny accent that would almost suggest that he is from somewhere in southern Spain as well. He speaks very clearly though, and makes sure to make his point every time he opens his mouth. Your mommy and daddy respect him a great deal for that because we know how hard it can be to finish a sentence here in the hospital when someone with a bigger voice starts talking.  But Dr. Ileus always does and he always makes really good points.

Even more to his credit though, he listens as well as he speaks. He is happy to let mommy and daddy ask all the questions we want and even point out a few things that we have noticed about you or your numbers when we talk to him. He is kind of like Dr. Nelson in that respect because he makes sure we have all of our questions answered before he walks away and if he doesn't have the answer he makes sure to find it one way or another. If I am remembering correctly, the other day one of the nurses brought up a point to him that your mommy raised and as it turned out it really helped and actually made for an order change during rounds. They say it takes a village to raise a child, well this village may be mostly sterile and covered in loose fitting clothing called "scrubs" but its a village none the less.

In the last six weeks Dr. Ileus has been a big big part of your stay. He was here the first night when you gave daddy and Pappaw and Gigi a heart attack and he has been here many many times since. He was the attending here at rounds all of last week and was even here over the weekend to help out. And on Saturday he was part of one of those moments that daddy will never in his life forget.

It was just you and I sitting here in the room Saturday morning, mommy was finishing her milkshake duties, when Dr. Ileus quietly slid the door open and stepped in. He walked over to you and uncovered you slightly, just like he always does, looked over you with the scrutiny of a trained eye scanning for problems, and then backed away and crossed his arms. He stood looking at you for a brief moment, the type of moment that has lasted a lifetime since you were born, the moment when the doctor decides what he has to say about you.

The look that came over his face was at first puzzling to me, it was clearly a good sign, but the emotion or thought behind it was untraceable by lines on his face. Little did I know it, but that was probably the same look that I have had a few hundred times over the last five plus weeks as I stood over your crib and looked down on your sleeping face. The look was one of amazement. After that brief moment passed Dr. Ileus quickly regained his composure, smiled ever so slightly, looked over at me with a big thumbs up and said "This one, he is a winner".

Dr. Ileus may be from Greece but in that moment he was seeing and speaking a language that transcends culture. The emotion he was conveying was one of happiness. The tone one of joy. The words didn't matter, they were merely a secondary way of expressing what his posture and his eyes had already said as clear as crystal. He was both proud of you and impressed by you, you are a winner against odds that seemed insurmountable.

Keep on winning son, every day.

I love you Connor.

- Daddy