10 days and Counting....

After 155 days of life, 142 days in the ICU our boy will be home on Jan. 26th! This time to stay…or so we hope! This is the official “unofficial” date and by that it means anything could change this date. Until that happens, we have an ambulance ride with our name on it that day. (Yes, they are making him come home by ambulance even though ambulance won’t be taking him to his doctor’s appointment the next day…Makes sense right?)

First, we have a few things to get through. Monday at 8:15 a.m., Payson is having his 4th surgery for the Nissen Fundoplication. Relatively speaking, this will be the easiest of all the surgeries, but it is still a major surgery. Depending on if they are able to laparoscopically do this surgery or if they will have to open him up will determine his recovery length and time. We of course want the surgery to be done laparoscopically, but only the surgeon can make that call in the OR. So, we will see on Monday. On a good side note...after this procedure is performed Payson won't be able to throw up! Do you realize how many loads of laundry this simple fact will save me? WooHoo!!! No yucky clothes, smell, rubbing of the back as someone yacks to the porcelain god, nothing that resembles throw up! Yea!!! This is every mom's dream!

On another good note this particular Bauders clan has finished her training...Yep, I beat Todd to it and even though he is just a trach change away from completing his I still finished before him. NaNaNa! We have been in a heated competition to beat each other to the finish line! It put a fun spin into our learning! We have earned some bragging rights though...we are the first parents to finish training in a little over three weeks! So, now we both need to complete the 24 hour room-in care of Payson. It is just us parents taking care of him all by ourselves for 24 hours. The point of this 24 hour stay is to try to emulate how it will be like to care for Payson at home. Just a wild guess, but I think that the environment will be way off! Then next Friday Payson will have his sedated hearing test, which we are a little nervous about! It is our prayer and heart's desire that there hasn't been any hearing damage, but we are prepared (as we can be) for the worst since it has been suspected for months. After this 24 hour period it should be smooth sailing home...Next Monday the equipment will arrive by the box load, the nurses, respiratory therapist and us will all be here to learn the equipment and set up Payson's room. It is beginning to feel like a little we have a medically challenged child coming home! Are we ready or are we ready? Whew! A lot to digest and process over the next week. I hope that we will have time to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. We really need to have time to take it all in!

Until then my father-in-law will be in town for a few days, so that will be a nice distraction! Post on Monday after surgery! Please pray it goes better then expected!