One Door Closes As Another Opens

Very difficult to believe our stay at Seattle Children's is coming to an end. Today was really quite hectic and emotionally draining as we started our "prove-to-the-hospital-staff-we-can-take-care-of-Eddie-at-home" routine . . . basically doing vitals, drawing and administering all 12 meds, dropping an NG tube into Eddie's stomach, learning how to run his overnight feeds, and managing his wound care. It's one thing to do this in the hospital where nurses and doctors kindly (but firmly) correct us, but quite another when we're back home trying to figure things out for ourselves. Are we ready for this?

In spite of the fear and worry, it was a beautiful day as so many of our wonderful SCH friends stopped by to say goodbye to Eddie. It is hard for us to imagine, but most of our doctors and nurses had never really seen the Eddie we know. When he rolled into the ICU, he was virtually unresponsive on ECMO and it has only been in the past 1-2 weeks that he has really been his more playful self. Few people expected to see him this way.

We're excited to see our wonderful Duvall friends and neighbors again . . . as full-time rather than part-time residents. When we made the decision to settle in Duvall from out of state five years ago, we had no idea how important that choice would be. We will slowly but surely find our own way to thank you for your love and kindness.

We expect to be discharged tomorrow afternoon, anxious to see what is waiting for us as we turn yet another page in this saga. We love you all!