James had another good overnight with no issues. They were monitoring his heart rate overnight because it was a little elevated. But in the morning they reported it was fine.
When I got up to the hospital James was playing cars with his PCA Clif. They were having a great time and James was all smiles. Dr. Bookland came in shortly after I settled in and asked if we were ready to go home. He said he felt very comfortable sending James homes and believed he would continue to thrive. In two weeks ( Dec 6 ) we would come back to have a CT Scan to have a look at where the swelling is, then make a determination on if reconstruction would be an option or if we needed to give the swelling a little more time. Right now Dr. Bookland is happy with what he sees, the swelling has gone down considerably and the wound is nice and soft.
James and I started packing up all the swag he picked up during his stay. Lots of new bears and dogs, cars and books. We had to make another stop in the playroom. I think he'll miss playing in there. It's equal parts exciting and terrifying to bring James home. Although there really will be no difference between what he's doing at the hospital and home, at the hospital I felt like we had a safety net. A team of people just steps away to help us if something went wrong. I'm sure we'll be ok. The feeling is somewhat similar to bringing your first born home from the hospital, like you're never really ready.
The hospital is ordering us a net tent bed to help keep James nice and safe at night. I'm hoping it will come in soon. Until then James will have to sleep with one of us in our bed. It's imperative that the only time he doesn't have his helmet on is when he is in bed. Fortunately he really doesn't mind his helmet-we ordered him some custom stickers to personalize it for him too.
Went made another visit to the Family Resource Room before leaving. They were offering arts and crafts followed by lunch. There is no shortage of great things to do in this room. By 1pm we were ready to roll, Al and Nate came to help us carry out all our stuff. The nurses and doctors were all so happy for us. Happy for James' miraculous recovery. As we walked out the front door as a whole family I couldn't help but remember that just two weeks before, almost the hour, I was running in the door begging for help. Just two weeks before James' future had no promises, they couldn't tell me if he'd walk or talk again. Now we're walking out the door, with no motor skill deficits, from what we can see just some small speech delays.
We've got another speech assessment on December 1st so they can review James' progress. James will finish his seizure medication doses at home, which were taken as a precaution. Dr. Bookland feels James' risk is minimal and feels the medication is no longer needed after this week. James will also finish up his medication to ease him off all the heavy narcotics he was on in the hospital. They finished up his morphine yesterday morning so he'll take Ativan to help with any withdrawal symptoms.
I went out this afternoon and picked up a bed rail for our bed, then put all the extra pillows in my house around the bed for a little nest for James. I'm hopeful that everything will work out well and that every day I will be a little more comfortable with having James home. James will remain home with me during the day until they do his reconstruction, then he will be able to return to school.
James' still has a way to go on his journey, but we'll enjoy every second of having him home. We're over the moon to have him home.
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