Anyway, Mom officially left the hospital/rehab on Oct. 15th and moved into our little home. She was one day shy of 6 months in the hospital! She found out that she was leaving on Tuesday the 13th so we quickly moved things around in our home and got her room ready. Scott offered his music room (the only real bedroom on the main floor) and Eli has been planning on giving up his bed for the past 3 months. I had to remove a love seat from the music room, put it in my room, after I removed a trunk from my room and put it in Autumn's room, before I could borrow and take down Autumn's wooden bed frame and then use Eli's comfy mattress and then give Eli, Autumn's mattress...which leaves Autumn "camping out" on a comfy air mattress for now....it was quite a game of musical furniture. I normally LOVE to rearrange my furniture but this was quite a work out!! After a few "homey" touches her room was ready for her arrival...
*Side Note- The night before we were to pick up mom was the night the Mountaineer's transmission DIED at a busy intersection...and mom's van wouldn't work either but we were hoping to get it working and drive illegally without tags to pick her up...cause we had no other choice and I left a plea for someone to bail us out of jail in the likelihood that we were going to be arrested that next day... * So, the morning of her pick up we could not get the van to start. The battery died the first week of July and we thought we could get it started after a few hours of charging the battery but no such luck. I called a new friend of mine and she let us borrow her car to pick up mom, go to Ottawa and run our errands...so it worked out fine and WE DID NOT get arrested. Yeah! That's always a great day when you don't get arrested...not that I have EVER been arrested but I have been Frisked!!....but that's another story for another day...Man...I get sidetracked very easily!
So, we picked up Mom and took her to the coffeehouse so she could finally see her little boy. She stayed there for about 45 minutes while we ran to the courthouse to get the tags to the van. Then we took her to her house to get some winter clothes, coats and art projects including clay and her hand building tools. We rushed back home and got her safely inside and then over to pick the boys up from school. I kept our grandma secret all the way home and when we got there, the oxygen man was there too and the boys wanted to know who he was and what he was doing there...so I had Lucas open the door to the music room...and when he saw the bed he craned his neck around the corner and with a huge grin asked, " Is Grandma in there??" I said YES and he went running in there. All the boys were excited and Eli couldn't stop smiling. They had no idea she was coming and they were so excited to finally have her here. I couldn't have asked for more love and devotion. We stayed close to home that weekend and surprised Autumn the next day. The kids are great with helping Grandma get to the dining room table and getting her water or anything else she needs. Lucas really practices self control and gentleness when he is helping Grandma and it is really sweet to watch. It has been a good transition and after 2 weeks we are getting into our routine.
All the nurses and staff came to give mom hugs before she left. One thing I have noticed as we have traveled from place to place, is that she has made a lasting, loving impression on each of the medical staff. They love her and that has been a real blessing for us.
She gets meds twice a day, a daily weigh in, multiple BP checks thru out the day and a nightly pic line flush. I flush the line with saline and heparin and help her get ready in the morning and at night. She had a good first few days but then really struggled with nausea, loss of appetite, headaches and ear aches and it seems to change every day. One of her main heart meds causes headaches, nausea and loss of appetite so it seems there isn't very much we can do to help. She spends a lot of time laying in bed and has been struggling with her breathing. She is still on oxygen and we have a semi-portable tank as well as a big unit that we are keeping in our living room. It will reach to the bathroom, front room, dining room and her bedroom now. I got her a walker with wheels/seat and she uses that to get back and forth to the downstairs bathroom. Every day has been a struggle but I am happy she is here and she is happy to be here too. Today was an ok day for her and she spent quite a bit of time folding some clothes for me. We had a great visit from our Ottawa pastor last night and from our good friends Betty (Aunt Tweety), Jamie and Miles when she first came home. Overall it has been a good move and we are praying for her every day. We are praying that the fluid will not come back in the amount it did before and that we can keep her stable and increase her strength in preparation for that second surgery. Thank you for praying for her and us as we settle in to our new life. We are looking forward to some great family time this holiday season.
We had a good visit with Betty, Jamie and her son Miles. He is so adorable! The boys loved playing with him and Noah begged us for a baby sister...I tried to keep Miles while Jamie flew back home but no such luck...I can't wait till she moves back to KC...P.S. Did you notice Lucas' MOHAWK??? We are going to dye it green and spike it up with glue type gel. He is so excited!
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