We're Home!

Hooray! We are home! I am sitting on my comfortable couch right now, for the first time in six weeks! My whole family is under one roof, but not in one room, and everything just feels good.

The CT itself went well this morning. The cardiac anesthesia nurse said it was the smoothest CT she's done in a long time. Drew really did not like being in the PACU and lost it a little when they wanted to put the pulse ox on him, something he has done with no problem for weeks. He cried until he fell asleep on me and then they gave him some IV versed through his handy picc line to keep him asleep until we got into the CT room. Oh, here's something for you Kate, since you were wondering why anesthesiologists get paid so much. I was trying to convince her to try to let Drew do the CT with no sedation and she explained that they needed a picture with a breath hold, which requires him to be in control of his breathing and not asleep from benadryl. So I asked how she does that if he's sedated and she replied nonchalantly "I give him a medication to make him stop breathing and then I am in control of it." That's why they get paid the big bucks, to stop you from breathing but keep you alive.

Drew woke up from the anesthesia around 9 am when the surgical team came in and looked at his wound. They said it looked good and we didn't need to go to clinic. Which sounded great until I remembered that we need someone to take the PICC line out if the CT looked ok. So it was back up to 3W to talk to our NP Kiersten who took care of us getting back into clinic. Drew played in the playroom (hopefully for the last time!) until 12 and then we headed back to clinic. Our appointment was at 12:30, we didn't see anyone until 1:30, and we didn't leave until 3:00! But even though it was slow in coming, it was all good news!

The results of the CT today show that the abscess is completely gone! Praise God! Drew still has some effusions, so we will continue on the lasix and aldactone for that. He has switched to oral linezolid three times a day for the next two weeks and we will follow up with our cardiologist next week. We were warned to take any fevers very seriously though for the next month and head to the emergency room if it were to happen in the evening or on a weekend.

We were so excited to come home, we jumped in the car and headed right back to Sacramento. We left Palo Alto at 4:30 and didn't get home until 8:00. Waiting for us was our wonderful life group! Our furniture has all been replaced, the house looked clean, the fridge was stocked and our friends made a big welcome home banner for Drew. And they unloaded our car packed to the top with our stuff! Valerie was here too with a giant pack of fireworks that Drew can't wait to open! Thank you everyone!

Our little children are tucked into their beds and we can't wait to sleep in our OWN bed tonight! I have some more thoughts to post on surgery and the kindness of others as well as a lot of THANK YOUs, so check back soon for those. In the meantime, just know that we feel so blessed. Thank you!

Drew just before the CT

Our car couldn't hold anything else!

Drew and Ava with the welcome home banner

The life group ladies

Drew tucked into his own train bed