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

Rude Awakening

This morning at 5 am there was loud knocking at the door and the dog was barking. I woke Dan up and he heard the really loud knocking again. He went to the door and it was the police! Nothing gets your heart racing like waking up to the police at your front door. The officer said our neighbor had called because our garage door was open and he wanted Dan to look and see if anything was missing.

It was. About $4500 worth of equipment was stolen while we slept! And our dogs, who bark like crazy anytime anyone comes to the door, didn't make a peep. They stole three of our bikes, worth more than $3000, our new bike trailer to tow the kids that we used once, my snowboard and boots which I used for the first time yesterday, and Dan's snowboard and boots. At first we thought we left the garage open after we unloaded our snowboards yesterday, but then we remembered Dan took the trashcans to the street right before bed and he would have noticed it was open. They got in by breaking the glass on our garage door, and then reaching in to grab the release and rolled up the door. That is pretty bold! And they must have been prepared because three bikes, the trailer, and two snowboards would take up a lot of room and required multiple people or lots of trips. Someone is coming later today to check for prints on the door, but I can't imagine you wouldn't wear gloves if you're going to stick your hand through a broken window. The best we can figure is it happened sometime between about 12:30 when we went to bed and 3:30 when our neighbor first noticed the garage was open (no idea what he was doing awake at 3:30, but we appreciate his diligence in looking out for the neighborhood).

As much as it sucks to have our things stolen, it's just stuff. What really bothers me is the feeling that we are not safe. We are lucky that we were only dealing with thieves, because it would have been so easy for them to walk through the door to the house and come inside where my babies were sleeping. That is scary. And of course, they broke in through the only door on our entire house that is not alarmed! So I'm going to call the alarm company today and see if we can put a sensor on the garage door. I also want to get a deadbolt for the door from the garage to the house. And we have to replace the glass on the exterior door so they can't just come back again tonight for more stuff. Luckily the car was untouched, but it was unlocked so I'll make it a habit of locking the car even when it's in the garage.

Anyway, this morning I'm thanking God that we are all safe and everything that was stolen is replaceable.

You can see the broken glass and the release that they used to open the door

Our empty wall of fun: trailer hung from the hook on the far left, bikes from the three hooks in the middle, and snowboards on the sets of hooks on the right.

Us and our bikes in happier times

Home

Today we had our favorite nurse, Michelle, taking care of Drew. If she is working when we are there, she is his nurse. We love her! I thank her for getting us out of there today and being such a great advocate for Drew. The doctors wanted to test his calcium level which would require another stick. She said no. He doesn't need it. They really pushed the issue so she said she would try to get it out of his IV as long as they switched him to oral antibiotics. She didn't want to risk losing the IV if they were going to make her place another one for IV antibiotics. So they said ok. She tried to get blood out of the line and couldn't get any. The Doctors again wanted to stick him. She said no, there is no reason to do that. Call endocrine (who follows his calcium) and ask them if they need it checked. So they did and endocrine said no, its fine. She totally saved him from another traumatizing poke. As it is the kid is terrified of band-aids. Some kids think they make you feel better, he knows he gets them after they are done poking around in his veins. He seriously cries when he sees them. He cried and shouted "I didn't want to!" every time the nurse even approached his IV.

Well, since Michelle got him switched to oral antibiotics and he hadn't had a fever yet today there was no reason we couldn't give him antibiotics at home. We were discharged around 3:30 and after a quick stop at the pharmacy to pick up his meds we are home. Yay! We have our whole family together in one place! Drew fell asleep in the car on the way after saying "I'm not tired."He and Dan are napping right now and I am hanging out with Ava. We've got a friend bringing dinner over and we are planning on just having a mellow night and going to bed early. We've got a follow up appointment tomorrow with our pediatrician and hopefully he'll just keep getting better each day. He was in a much better mood today and we visited the playroom, went on a wagon ride to see the fish in the hospital lobby, and played cars. He is excited to come home and play with his train table.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what they decided made him sick, the doctors are going with bacterial pneumonia. Dan and I are not sure if we buy it, but it doesn't really matter as long as he is getting better and he is home.

We're Home!

Drew was discharged this morning around 11 a.m. He was very excited to come home! He kept saying, "Can I go home to Drew's house? Can I play?" He practically ran out of the unit! He and Daddy both slept well last night but are glad to be sleeping in their own beds tonight. The blood cultures came back negative for a bacterial infection. This is good and bad news. We're glad there is no infection, but that means the IV antibiotics weren't helping him to get better and so the torture of getting the IV in was not really necessary. Of course, the doctors wanted to be careful and start treating him in case of a bacterial infection, but as a mother I wish there was something else they could do.

For some reason I was feeling sad this morning. I didn't really know why, since I knew that Drew would be coming home today. After thinking about it for a while I think I have the answer. When things are crazy I just go an autopilot, dealing with the situation, being there for Drew, arranging childcare for Ava, making plans, feeling somewhat in control. I think once the danger has passed and things are OK the feelings I have been denying come flooding back all at once. It's hard to have your child in the hospital, even when it seems routine. It's hard to split up the days and nights and be away from my husband. It's horrible to watch Drew in pain and scared and know that I can't make it stop. I can only try and make it a little more bearable. And even the days leading up to his hospitalization were exhausting. Worrying really takes a lot out of you!

I think we are all going to try and take it easy for the next couple of days. We all have to adjust to being back at home and get used to our old routines. The laundry can wait a few more days...After Drew's hospitalization last May he was not himself for a few days after we came home. I think he is getting old enough that he needs some time to process what happened, and he doesn't know how to express his feelings. And if I am feeling sad today even though he is home with us, he must be having some feelings that need to be dealt with as well. I am praying that we will all have extra patience for each other.

Bye hospital!

Drew is glad to see Ava