Once Roo's blood wasn't being drawn as often, he did start to eat a little more. But just a little. I wanted so badly to go home, and one of the nurses even mentioned that they sometimes send kids home with the feeding tube (and train the parents to use them). The attending heard this and quickly explained that she didn't see that as an option in our case. (I think it was because they typically do that for kids who need them long-term. Since this was something she expected Roo to quickly outgrow, and since we were monitoring other things as well, she wanted to just wait it out.)
The rest of Tuesday went by, then Wednesday. Like I said in my last post, I pretty much got to spend all my time holding and loving him at this point, so it wasn't all bad. I was still exhausted, though, and a little overwhelmed. I had brought my Bible and another book and a stack of thank-you notes, but they all sat untouched. I couldn't focus on anything important, so I stuck to "The Holiday" and "Grease" (which I had brought from home—so thankful for DVD players in the rooms!), and "Law & Order" when I got desperate. J
And then… on Thursday night… it happened. He drank an entire bottle. And then another. And another. I was so excited! I set my alarm in the night and refused to let the nurses feed him—I wanted to do everything possible to make sure he took his whole bottle so that we could go HOME.
The doctor came in on Friday morning with more good news—his sodium and CBC levels were down too. It was a very slight decrease, but any decrease at all was a good sign that they were going to start to correct themselves. In fact, she cancelled all further blood tests so that Roo could just focus on eating. She said if he continued to eat well, we should be home by Saturday morning.
Hmmmmm. Don't get me wrong, I was excited that the end was in sight, but I just really had my heart set on not spending one more night sleeping on that couch. But I tried to hide my disappointment and just be excited that we were even talking about home.
And Roo continued to eat and eat and eat. It was like someone had just flipped a switch on him. During the day, he even started to wake up and act hungry when it was time to eat—a welcome relief from having to jostle him awake every time.
The doctor came back in after lunch, which was unusual. She would typically come by around 8:30 AM and again in the evening—the only time she had stopped by during the day was the day he'd had the procedure and ultrasound done. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was ecstatic when she said, "I think we're going to get you home today." YAY!!!!!! I seriously thought about hugging her. Not only was I excited, but it felt like she and I were old friends at that point in the week. J
She went over home care and follow-up instructions with me, then a nurse did the same thing again, and the resident came in and did them again. I didn't care. They could repeat themselves all they wanted—we were going home! That was all that mattered. I met with a nutritionist about making sure Roo was getting enough calories. And finally, two nurses came in… and removed the IV port from Roo's head. Oh. my. goodness. What a sweet moment that was.
And then we were on our way!!! I stopped home for a very much-needed shower, then ran to my brother's house to pick up the other kids. And when my hubby came home from work that night, it felt SO DARN GOOD to all be home together!
OK, another short post, but it's all I have time for right now—and it's a good, happy stopping point for now, too. J I hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was quite busy and hot!!! We had lots of fun, but are now looking forward to getting things back to normal a bit.
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