Home Sweet Home at Last - 61 days at OLOL

Finally we got to bring Braden home Saturday, for mommy's birthday! We spent 15 days in August with an 11 day hiatus at the end of August before going back for another 46-day stretch. If you've never stayed in an ICU unit, you just can't comprehend how exhausting it really is... all the beeping, the alerts, the lights always on, the patient care every 5 minutes for something new - being on "the floor" is a whole lot more waiting and downtime that you just don't get in the ICU. It wears you to complete exhuastion, even Braden was ready to get out and fussy to go home!

It will take a few weeks for us to adjust, and really to catch up on "good sleep" without all the constant commotion. We are all in transition and working out the hiccups in our routine. With nobody in LA ever having this ventilator, and the provider not familiar with it, and the salespeople telling you things it can do that it really can't... we have had lots of ups and downs with the nuances of the new ventilator. I already have TONS of feedback for improvements on a new model - think they'll pay me to be a "patient consultant?" Probably not, but one can always hope.

Braden is back to daycare, and the kids are so sweet with him and they ask lots of good questions about his equipment. Little Jazmyn... let me tell you about her. She is Braden's personal bodyguard and "the boss of him" if you don't already know. While Braden was in the hospital, I was told that I would get a whipping (she said it more like "whooopin", though:-) ) with the Dora belt by JazMyn if I didn't bring Braden back soon. She moved his extra outfits to her "cubby" so nobody would touch them, she made LaTacia take home and hide his boppy from the crib so nobody would bother it, and she missed him so much one day, she crawled up into his crib and when Tacia asked why, she said she just missed Braden. When we finally showed up Monday, she told me she was "so worried about Braden". PRECIOUS PROTECTOR of my son... you just have to love her to death. She spent all day Monday coming into Braden's room giving him kisses, holding his hand, and placing his hand open on the chair (reminds me of all the things cousin Paxton does with him!!). (Braden is staying in the nursery until he can come off the ventilator and cpap... then eventually he will get to sit in his chair in the big room with all the other kids:-)

So we are "ADJUSTING" for the next few weeks, and of course will post again soon with new adventures to come!! We can't thank everyone enough for all your support during these past months. We will continue to pray for our friends still in ICU (Millicent Bradley & family) and those who have gone home already (Leah Banh & family) that God continues to heal their little bodies and keeps them in His care.

The Wilson's: Kodi, Brad, Braden