We're Home!

Paul Daniel had his follow-up appt with Dr. Kirschner on Monday. The camera/film crew were there once again to get footage of Paul. He was quite the entertainer. Dr. Kirschner was pleased with the way Paul's mouth looked but emphasized how incredibly important it is that we protect those stitches for the next 3 weeks. They are very fragile and with Paul so active, there are about a billion ways he could damage them. He does have arm braces on that lock his arms straight. They certainly keep his fingers out of his mouth, but the certainly don't keep him from falling face first...and I can't tell you how many times he has already done that but somehow managed to catch himself in such a way as not to hit his mouth!

Monday night we spent packing, doing laundry, cleaning our room, doing our chores, cleaning out the fridge and pantry at the RMH. There is definitely work involved in staying at the RMH but we can't say enough good things about that place. It was an absolutely wonderful experience and we will be staying there again in February for Paul's second surgery.

Carl and I were up at 4:15 am on Tuesday to get loaded up and checked out at RMH. We were on the way to the airport by 5am for our 7am flight. We dropped off the rental car and were at the counter checking our bags by 6am. We had two seats lined up on the bulkhead row...Carl asked if we could get a third. No problem! Then the lady at the counter asked us for the letter from our doctor saying Paul Daniel is well enough to fly. We would not be able to get on the plane without that letter. Carl pulled out our envelope from the nurse with all our records. We had requested this letter, so it should be in there. Well, you know where this is going. It was NOT in there! So the lady says, no problem, I can get you on a 1:15 or a 6pm flight while you go back to the hospital to get a letter. Are you kidding? We asked can we get a letter faxed from the hospital? Sure, she said. And she gave us the fax number and went ahead and checked our bags but put us in the system in such a way that we were not allowed to board the plane without this fax. So Carl called the hospital immediately (yea for me for memorizing the hospital phone number). He got transferred twice but the person he spoke to last said he would call Dr. Kirschner on his personal number. They reach Dr. Kirschner (still in bed). He calls us back. He says he can't get a fax to us for another hour but he could talk to someone directly or he could send an email. The lady at the gate said they could accept an email. So Dr. Kirschner saves the day and we got to board the plane at 6:40am. We love Dr. Kirschner and NATIONWIDE!!! They are so awesome!

Unfortunately I had to terrify Paul Daniel again by changing his diaper in the airplane bathroom but it was a stinky one so I couldn't do it on the floor. We still haven't figured out what scares him so bad about the airplane bath but it is terrible and I hated to do it. But I knew he wouldn't sleep if we didn't get him changed. Thankfully when I got him back to his seat, Carl traded places with me and he sang Paul Daniel to sleep. He slept the whole flight.

Thank you to the Winn's for picking us up at the airport. Paul was thrilled to be back home! He went right to his playdoh table in the garage and got to work.

Mother arrived on time Tuesday evening at 7pm. We met her at the airport and then went to Cracker Barrel for supper.

Paul Daniel has been sleeping with us since surgery and will have to continue to sleep with us until the arm braces come off. He is a fitful sleeper anyway, and his tossing and turning means he gets his arms stuck behind him or underneath him when he rolls around. Without going into detail, let's just say our first night home meant very little sleep for all of us.

On Wednesday, Mother got started on helping us catch up on laundry. Carl and I got completely unpacked. Mother, Paul Daniel and I went out for a little while to give Carl sometime to do some work. We went grocery shopping and I actually enjoyed the Thanksgiving crowd! Mother and I made chili for supper and then about 7pm I was done. My body just gave out. Carl said he would sleep with Paul by himself and I could go upstairs to sleep. This is the hard part. There is perpetual guilt when you so desperately need sleep and so does everyone else. But you know you can't keep going without it!! Well, Carl came up with the great idea of taking the chairs from the living room and putting their backs up to one side of the bed to keep Paul from rolling out. It was perfect. I've been up for over an hour now and Paul and Carl are still sleeping soundly. I hope they had a good night. Tonight will be my turn to sleep with him and Carl will sleep upstairs.

Well, that's the report. Sorry I don't have a whole lot of humor to throw into each entry, but I don't have the energy these days! I will say this, God is GOOD. Once again he has blessed us more than we deserve. We had a wonderful trip to Columbus...no issues whatsoever. We have new friends. We have a son who now has one surgery behind him and is doing so well. We have one of the BEST surgeon's in this country taking care of Paul and we have an army of Christians supporting us at every turn. There is much to give thanks for today.