WE'RE HOME!!!

Oh, my gosh! I have my family back again!!

What a day! We woke up this morning at 7:00 when Jenny, our night nurse, came in to say goodbye and, of course, I cried. I love Jenny so much. We've already got plans to go with her to a movie on Wednesday, assuming Bailey's feeling up to it. We had to make plans of some kind just so saying goodbye was more like "see you soon" - that's the only way it was bearable. We then walked down to get a chest X-ray and then an echo, and Dr. Darragh gave his stamp of approval on going home today. So, after lots of discharge orders, dressing change training, medicine schedule, prescriptions, and saying additional goodbyes, we left our room around 4:00. We were walking out the door to the patient pick-up/drop off (with about 10 or so of our medical team seeing us off) and Bailey just stopped right in front of a parked limo and looked around. Tom said, "Where you going, Bailey?" She said, "Well, where's the van?" And right then, the limo driver opened the door for Bailey. It was so cool! She was soooooo excited. I tell you, it's difficult to time it to try and get a limo to the hospital - there's a lot involved in getting discharged. But the medical team worked with us the best they could and we managed to work it our pretty good. He only had to wait on us about 30 minutes. The girls and Nancy and I rode home in the limo. Then, when we drove into our neighborhood, Bailey saw lots of cars lining our street and said, "Man! Somebody's having a family reunion or something." And just then, she saw the "welcome home" signs and all our neighbors and family standing in front of our house. She didn't cry, but I did! We have the best neighbors and family! Thank you so much, guys, for welcoming Bailey home. And thank you for the food we found on our table! You guys are certainly the best! So, the limo driver then took all the other kids on a ride.

Bailey squealed when she saw her room. She loves it! Even though it's not finished, it's close enough that she can get a really good idea of what the finished room will look like. Unfortunately, she didn't have a bed to jump on - it's standing on its side in our living room - but we'll make do.

She's feeling really good today. She's only taken Tylenol with codeine once today and she helped me make dinner. She yelled to me from the family room and said, "Come here, Mom, and let me show you something I haven't done in 6 months!" I walked in there and she was laying on the couch on her stomach! She's so sweet. She really is enjoying being home. She came home with a PIC line, so we've got some special instructions for that. And we have to continue the canula site dressing change twice a day for a while. And we have to take her blood pressure and watch her "ins and outs". We have a follow-up appointment this Friday, and we have lots of numbers in case we have any questions or concerns. I think we're already doing a little better with the separation anxiety. It's just been a crazy time these past 6 months - especially the past few weeks. And to go home just 7 days after surgery is just unbelievable. We have truly been blessed.

Before we left the hospital, we got to take one more ride on the train to Methodist with Dr. T. That was nice. And we didn't even have to rush to an outlet to plug in! We got to visit two adult patients of his who are on VAD's. I hope it gave them some encouragement to see living proof of what the VAD's can do.

Well, I'm gonna go crash on my couch next to Bailey and see if I can get rid of this headache which, I am sure, is just from all the anxiety and excitement that this day has brought. I'll continue to post on a periodic basis, but, I tell ya, this computer is SLOWWWW. We have a dial-up connection. Hopefully soon we'll get a new computer and quicker internet access. But we have lots of time for that.

For some reason, I seem to be having a hard time signing off tonight. I just feel like I want to sit here and talk to you guys all night long. I just can't seem to get enough thank you's out to everyone involved and I just can't seem to express my gratitude to God as much as I'm feeling it in my heart. And I guess this means that our adventure has come to some sort of an end. You would think I would just say "See ya!" and run as fast as I can far away from this situation, but I'm not feeling like that at all. The friendships that we've made this past 6 months are deeper than just the Berlin Heart and a hospital stay - they'll be with us for good! We've got contact information for all our doctors and nurses and, believe me, we'll use it. We're not running from this adventure - we're embracing it to begin a new chapter in our lives. Thank you to all for taking such good care of us. See you again soon!

Love, Angie