Rand's Web Page
Visiting Lochlann
| It is the occasion of the third anniversary of Lochlann's baptism. This was my excuse for visiting and checking on how he is doing (more on that later). |
|
|
Mom picked me up and took me to Worms. This is the place where Luther defended his 95 theses with the words - Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. - The building itself was destroyed and is now replaced with a very modern Lutheran church. This fresco commemorates the event. |
| This is the cathedral in Worms. |
|
|
Worms is home to the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe. |
| This memorial to Luther's big moment is itself several centuries old. |
|
|
We then headed to Herschberg to see Kara and Kurt's new house. Kara has painted several of Lochlann's rooms and play areas with Dr. Seuss and other children's book characters. |
| More. |
|
|
Then I got down to the business of why I had come. Lochlann had just returned from the hospital. He had been very sleepy, still having frequent seizures and had an infection. The whole time I was there, he was a perfect angel. He was more alert than he had been and was well (at least until he knew I was leaving). He has seizures every 20-60 minutes but they are not dramatic or scary. He comes right out of them and is back within a minute or so. They are scary to the family because they are not under control and they are worried about something worse happening. Overall, he is less active than before. He doesn't smile, laugh or express himself in any way that someone who doesn't know how to read him could tell. His parents love him and are seeing to his best interests under difficult circumstances. |
| Lochlann is the center of attention and doted over all the time. He gets fed through a feeding tube in several small feedings every few hours. He gets medicines morning and night and more often when he is on antibiotics. |
|
|
Kara has really gotten into walking. She tries to get in at least 10,000 steps per day. It is very easy to see why she does it with the many scenic trails in her area. It is always downhill to leave her house and therefore uphill on the return trip. She took me on a walk to our evening restaurant. |
| Kara made sure that I got lots of authentic German cuisine. This restaurant had a lot of traditional pork dishes including brats, sausages and wienerschnitzel. Kara is eating Molli roh (which, as it turns out, is raw ground pork). It was tasty but it is very hard to get over the fact that you are eating raw meat (we did think it would be perfect for when Wade visits next). |
|