Things falling into place

Despite the recent challenges (and outright b.s.) of trying to take care of Sara and try and bring her home, we are making progress.

She and I talked a lot on Friday night. There is a lot going on that I'll be telling everyone about in the next few days. Some of it does not have to do with coming home, but related to her accident and injuries. She had some stuff to tell me and did a couple of weeks ago.

Regards bringing her home. I mentioned that there were decisions to be made regarding LVN nursing vs. RN nursing. The difference was the ability to actually GET nurses more than anything - and the hours that would be available for each level. We could either hold off for LVNs and have more hours but that could take weeks and she would probably have to go to subacute care in the interim...or we could opt for RN nursing and have nurses this week, but have less overall hours. She and I talked about it and she is ok with either. She wants to be home sooner, but worries about the extra burden on me and Team SARA. Given that a decision needs to be made, I have decided to opt for the RN care and get her home. I will be taking the brunt of the care hours outside of the RNs. I discussed with one of the doctors that she is not directly supervised right now, but on a monitor with alarm. Since that is acceptable (and effective) for monitoring her condition especially when she sleeps, I have arranged to rent the same kind of monitor. Neither Kaiser or MediCAL will authorize the monitor, so it is out of pocket. But it will give us the ability to let her sleep in her room alone but with her heartrate and oxygen saturation monitored for problems. Tracy and I had Christopher on a similar monitor when he was home (20 years ago). We'd go to sleep, too, but jump up and take care of him when the monitor went off. We'll be doing the same here. Since we have the spare bedroom upstairs and Michael and I are both at opposite ends of the house, it seems like the best thing to do would be to put a baby monitor system in her room (or near her wherever she is) as well, so that we can have a remote monitor with whoever is currently caring for her.

So, that, and finishing some modifications to the house, and figuring out a schedule for coverage is about all that is left to bring the girl home. (there is a bigger list than that...but we could do it at this point, just not gracefully and the girl would be wearing the hospital gown she traveled in...)

Her Dad asked her what the first thing she wanted when she got home...she spelled out Kitty. Kitty feels the same... I'm sure those two will spend the first few days just staring at each other.

Yesterday was 10 months since her accident. Ten months since she was even in the same house with her brother and me. How wonderful it will be to be able to lay my head on the pillow knowing that both of my babies are safe at home again....