05/10/10 Home at Last

Today started off rough. Eli had another CO2 reading at 6:00am and the reading was a dismal 66. I told Patricia we still needed to push for home. The reading was take after Eli was off his BiPAP for a while and he was having some problems keeping his oxygen saturation level up. We really need to press to get home. We could sit in the hospital for weeks like this and there's no point.

Finally by late morning Patricia calls me with the good news. The attending on the floor had a discussion with our pulmonologist and they both agreed there was no point in chasing a number. They are going to discharge Eli! Finally!

We realize we're in for a lot of work at home but we're up for it and we feel like we can do a better job caring for Eli in the home setting than they are doing at the hospital. It's going to be a very big day for us today but like everything else in the hospital the discharge is being done on hospital time. That means Eli is stuck there until the late afternoon.

By the time they get all the paperwork ready and they get everything set for discharge it's about 3:30pm. Patricia calls me at work to let me know they are on the way out the door. Thank God! My Mom and Dad came down to the hospital today to help with the transition. After 3 full months in the hospital there's a lot of crap to haul back home. Add on top of that all the medical equipment and supplies we've accumulated and there's a literal truck load of stuff to bring to the house.

By 4:30pm Eli is home! It has certainly been a long time coming and we're grateful that we're made it this far. There's a lot of stuff to get set up and Patricia and my Mom get to work. They manage to get Eli settled in without any problems. He's doing great and he looks like he is loving the chaos and excitement his two big brothers are creating.

I finally arrive home around 6:30pm. The home care delivery service is in the driveway delivering the oxygen "mother tank". I walked in just in time to see how it all works and to get the final instructions but it looks like it will be pretty easy.

Dinner is on the stove thanks to our neighbor Rebecca and the boys are down with Grandma eating. I can't believe Eli is finally home! We've been waiting for this day for so long it's like Christmas for us. I think everyone knows how much work it's been to get here and we know it's going to take a lot of love and hard work to keep Eli here but after the process we've been through I think we have plenty of love and commitment to spare.

I'll try to get some pictures out in the next day or two and I owe everyone a thank you post. There have been so many people who have helped us out along the way it's hard to even contemplate thanking everyone but I'm going to try. The biggest challenge is simply not forgetting someone because there have been so many wonderful people in our life recently. Let me start simply by saying THANK YOU! I'll start working on my thank you post soon. In the meantime stay tuned because we still have a long way to go. Eli is home but he isn't 100% so we still need your good thoughts and prayers to speed his development and eventual recovery.

I'm going to go spend some time with my three boys.

God Bless and Merry Christmas (for us!)