5 Months

We've been here 5 months now. Wow! I never thought we'd be here this long. I remember back in January wondering if we would be here long enough to celebrate our birthdays in here (April). I didn't even go beyond that. Funny how there are some things in life that you absolutely have no control over. In this case, that's a comfort to me. Back on pre-op day when we were admitted unexpectedly, I remember feeling a huge relief that we weren't going back home - that Bailey was in the best possible place she could be and was going to be taken care of by the best medical team. The thought of going home scared me. And the thought of going home since then has scared me. Of course, once she gets to go home I imagine I'll be fine, but there's no other place I'd rather be, with Bailey in this condition, than here at Riley.

Bailey had a dental appointment here today. Last night she was eating and one of her wires sliced her lip. It bled like crazy but, unlike her nosebleeds, didn't bleed for long. The Riley dentist came over here last time (about a month ago) but this time we had to go to them. It was eventful. This little 2-year old boy ran up to the Berlin Heart and reached out his hand to grab one of the lines. I couldn't get to him fast enough, so I just said (in a slightly panicked voice), "Bailey, Bailey, Bailey!" She turned around just in time to shove him away. We were so scared at the time, but later we laughed about Bailey pushing a little boy. Luckily, she didn't shove him to the ground! Then another little girl pushed a large plastic truck across the waiting area and across the hall right toward the VAD and Bailey stopped that one with her foot. (The girl wasn't close enough to be shoved though. Haha!) Luckily they called our name very soon thereafter, because we were about to leave, we were so nervous. But they took care of us and we made it back to the room.

I scoped out the parking garage and found an outlet next to the elevator. I'm not sure if the cord is long enough to reach, but one of our doctors is checking out other options too. It looks like we should be able to see fireworks on Monday.

I got to see Josie's and Marissa's softball games tonight. The did such a good job! Marissa got weirded out and didn't bat the first inning because she didn't like to bat last. (Something about it being more fun to stop at all of the bases as opposed to running around them all without stopping, which is what the last person batting would do.) But she rallied and batted great the other innings. Josie's team won 20-something to zero. I got some good pictures - I'll post them this weekend.

Dr. T turned Bailey's VAD rate down to 70 today. We'll see what happens!

Bailey's been wearing her U.S. Gymnastics Team warm-ups today. They fit great! Thanks again, Kara!

Hope you all got some rain today - we got a nice little storm. Have a great day!

Love, Angie