Home...Hooray!

Originally posted: December 18, 2015

This morning started with both kids wanting to go down to the Kid Zone for bingo that gets televised to all of the rooms in St Paul and Mpls Childrens. Tom who was doing bingo had planned to have Kate help him again.
Derek got bingo(do you "get" bingo?). Kate did a great job helping to call bingo.
Derek was caught on the way to the Zone by physical therapy and had to walk down the hallway and into the Kids Zone. He had to shoot some hoops and kick a ball with Kate for PT. That was prior to Bingo. He had already done his occupational therapy. He then had more physical therapy later in the afternoon. Because of Derek's hard work and willingness to push himself, he was able to come home tonight and not have to be transferred to the other Children's hospital located near where his radiation will be. Instead, we can drive out daily for him to do an hour of OT followed by an hour of PT with his radiation to follow later in the day. It will be a lot of long days.
We trucked all of out things home and now have to sort through all of that. No word on the blood draw from yesterday. No time for radiation yet, however it is looking like it may start Tuesday of next week. His wheelchair arrived, such a cute little thing. We were shown how to work it and there is a wonderful seatbelt so there will be no slipping out like had the other day on the way to his radiation mask making. We got his meds and supplements squared away and we were done and gone. Fastest discharge ever. So smooth and uneventful.
And then, we just walked out. And just like leaving PICU, I was teary all over again. I have always been bad with goodbyes. SO hard to leave such wonderful people. All of them. They took such good care of Derek and us the whole time. 3 weeks to the day since we got there. That has just flown by.
Derek wanted to eat at Culvers on the way home. We now have to think about where we park so that we can get a child out and into a wheelchair. I am so thankful that we have no snow. No snow to have to push the wheelchair through. I am sure it is coming, but it was so nice to have nice clean paths to go on.
Now to sleep. Tomorrow is a new "normal". For now. That normal will change Tuesday to the next "normal".
Good thing we are flexible, right?
All through this I am so thankful for a little boy with the sweetest disposition. Who, even if he is walking and ends up on his knees from exhaustion(like he did this morning), can still laugh at the situation and himself. So many people would get mad or frustrated, but not Derek.