I learned how to sleep in a chair without truly resting.
I learned that hope could exist alongside terror without making either feeling disappear.
There were frightening nights.
There were encouraging laboratory results followed by new concerns.
There were moments when the medical team spoke cautiously about improvement and others when they warned us not to rush ahead.
David remained beside us.
He attended necessary business calls only when Leo was stable and I had enough support.
Whenever anyone tried to discuss Eleanor during a medical update, he ended the conversation.
“Our son comes first,” he would say.
And this time, nobody questioned him.
Chloe also stayed.
She traded her silver gown for borrowed sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt from our house.
On the morning after her birthday, she brought Leo’s favorite stuffed lion to the hospital.
She placed it where he would be able to see it when he opened his eyes.
