Kintropy In Action

Tonight I’m staring blindly at the computer screen. Gabriel is in the family room watching Digiman. I got home from the hospital around 5:00 p.m. I’m worn out.

Hannah might come home tomorrow but I’m not sure how I feel about that. With Hannah’s history checking her out on a Friday has never been great. She is feeling better though. Once she feels really good, home is the best place to have her.

Tonight Robert is doing the night shift. We have tried all different combinations but this seems to work the best. One of us is with Hannah the other is with Gabriel and we switch off about every 24 hours. Some people think that having our daughter in the hospital might actually be a break. It is not. Robert and I have found the best way to prevent mistakes is to be there. Also, the hospital can not staff an active medically child well. Every nurse has at least 3 to 4 patients. Hannah requires one on one attention in the same room. Usually if her alarms start going off it means she has been having problems for at least an hour or more. I like to keep things from getting to the critical mass stage. Otherwise, there would be constant trach and button tube reinsertion.

No one is really sure what is going on with Hannah. She had two abscesses in her abdomen that they are not sure which organ is producing. They put in two drains on Tuesdays. The drains are long tubes inserted in the abscesses and attached to plastic bulbs without air that acts as little vacuums that help empty the abscesses.

One was removed today. So her goals for leaving the hospital are: one have no fever, two a slowing of drainage, three have a reduction in white blood cell count and four have a bowel movement.

Hannah was more like herself then she has been for a while. I saw a sparkle in her eye and a mischievous grin on her face. She said very clearly as she shook her body back and forth "I want out!"

Gabriel and I had a fast food diner and settled on the couch to cuddle and watch TV. In between commercials he told me about his past two days.

--Mom