Josiah is temporarily placed in this new hospital one hour away from home. He will be there for 6-8 weeks. His life has changed immensely in such a short time and will continue to change from anything he’s ever known. He used to live at home with us. He had his own room, with a large trampoline smack dab in the middle. He jumped on it often, many times in the middle of the night. He had a bunk bed with a fort area down below where he would sometimes lay to watch a video on his ipad. He had his Skweezer sheets to snuggle up under at night.  He had his glow in the dark stars on the ceiling he used to stare at when the lights were turned out.

He used to go to school.  He used to ride a bus.  He had a classroom and teachers and friends. He could swing in the backyard on the swing set. He could help take Mocha, our dog, for a walk around the block. He could ride in his bike trailer.  He could splash in the water at the neighborhood pool.  He could go to the movies, even though the only part he truly seemed to enjoy was the popcorn and the movie credits at the end.  That’s his very favorite part.  He could go for a ride in our van, which he frequently loved to do.  He could go to the store with us and go to church.

Now everything has changed. Now, he has a hospital bed which he never seems to want to leave. He has a bathroom. He has a T.V. up high on the wall in his room, which he never seems to pay attention to.  He has a couch and a chair. He has someone who stays in the room with him at all times, even while he sleeps. He has a drawer filled with snacks in case he gets hungry. He has a playground and an activity room he can use. But he doesn’t.

Josiah sleeps a lot.  At least during the day he does.  It seems he’s not sleeping much at night. He likes to stay in his room, in his bed with the door closed.  If it’s open, he gets out of bed to close it.  He gets out of bed to close the bathroom door too.  Lately, when we’ve visited, he pushes us away.

Josiah is perfectly capable of walking, but has no interest in doing so.  They tried to make him walk.  He would get up, walk around from one side of the bed to the other and climb right back in. He never left the room. They didn’t make him.

We asked for a wheel chair.  We wheeled Josiah up and down the hall, up and down the hall, up and down the hall over and over again.  We wheeled him out to the playground even though he doesn’t like it.  We wheeled him up the ramp onto the play structure.  We encouraged him to get up out of the wheel chair to go down the slide.  He hit himself in the head and refused to budge. We’ve only stayed outside for short periods of time.

I bought some dried mango and tore it into bite sized pieces to reward Josiah for walking.  The first day we tried, he walked up and down the hall one time.  The second time he didn’t even need the mango.  Now that he has a wheel chair, he doesn’t want to walk at all.

Josiah has never been to the activity room.  The other kids go.  They play games.  They do puzzles.  They color and watch movies.  Josiah stays in his room.  The only time I see him perk up is when his food tray arrives.  He very much looks forward to food.

So that’s it.  Our overly active, extremely hyper, out of control boy now just wants to stay in his bed, in his room and do nothing.

Such a drastic change from where we were just a few short weeks ago.