Lucas Camilo

Lucas continues to be high on holiday cheer these days, perpetually in a good mood.  (Even at 3 am, which he recently insisted was a perfect time to read Panda Bear, Panda Bear.)

Susie brought over a just-for-Lucas Hanukkah celebration this past weekend, and Lucas ate it up.  He loves his Christmas lights, but REAL candles on a menorah were even more entrancing.  We all sat on the living room floor with Lucas for the Hanukkah ritual.  Susie lit all the candles, then sang a prayer in Hebrew.  Lucas paid close attention, watching and listening more quietly than usual.  There was a pause when the prayer ended.  And then, as if he’d been waiting for us to get out the menorah for the past nine days, Lucas busted out singing “This Little Light of Mine.”

The next day we were back to admiring our Christmas tree and reading Lucas’ favorite Christmas literature — Dora’s Christmas Adventure.  The book, of course, features Santa Claus.  So despite not owning a television and not going to malls, Lucas has started talking about Santa.  And we can’t help it, we talk about him a little bit, too.  When we heard our friend got a private Santa meeting through the Make-a-Wish foundation, we even spent an afternoon thinking maybe we should try to find Santa somewhere for Lucas to meet.  But we have a strict anti-mall policy this time of year, so it’s been looking unlikely.

On Wednesday we had a follow-up nephrology appointment to do another ultrasound and see what’s happening with the mystery stuff in Lucas’s kidneys.  We rolled out of the house before 7 am in the dark and slushy snow to get to the hospital for an early appointment.  We started off in the radiology lab and when the machinery rolled up Lucas looked a little nervous.  The radiology tech explained to him that she had a camera, was putting some warm jelly on it, and then was going to take pictures of his tummy.  Lucas perked up when he heard “camera,” and said “1, 2, 3… smile!” as if posing for a picture.  He then adapted the game, and did “tummy smiles” for the next 20 minutes as she took images of his kidneys and bladder from the front, sides, and back.  Over and over again, he declared, “1-2-3… TUMMY SMILE!,” and his whole body would twitch a little as he tried to do whatever he imagined a tummy smile to be.  The tech thought the whole thing was amazing, and by the end Lucas had declared his love for her (he’s discovered that he can melt hearts by declaring a big “I LOVE YOU!” to perfect strangers.)

An hour later we met with the nephrologist.  She showed us the images, and we tried to decipher what they meant.  It seems the spots in his kidneys – first identified in the hospital back in November – have decreased, but not significantly.  The good news is that it’s doubtful they’re seeing kidney stones.  The weird news is that they think it’s still leftover debris from the trauma, though they don’t usually see anything like this in other patients who go through similar events.  But the doctor is hopeful that it will resolve itself.  So Lucas came home with orders to keep super hydrated, but nothing more drastic.

Today was Lucas’s final day of school before the winter break, though it feels like he just started last week.  Lucas was excited to take presents to his teachers and bus drivers (he often declares his love for Victor and Anitra, his two drivers).  When Krista arrived to pick him up, he was holding a pin wheel and beaming.  Santa had come to school!  Apparently when first asked, Lucas proclaimed there was absolutely NO way he would go see Santa.  But then other kids dared approach… and, they got presents.  So Lucas got his nerve up and bravely approached Santa with nurse Reiko.  When we asked later what he said to Santa, he grinned and said, “I love you, Santa!”