Homeward Bound

Great news. Sylvie's neutraphils are over 1000 which is amazing! Her hemoglobin is 9.6 which is passable, too. That being said the powers that be decided we can go home tomorrow and the only apparatus we will need to bring with us is the NG tube. Trust me that's enough and I'm a little nervous about it!

Last night was the best night yet-- alarms went off only from 3:22 am to 4:00 am. Sylvie didn't even wake up when they drew blood from her ports. I was so not used to sleeping for 5 hours that I felt drugged when I woke up to Denise the nurse standing beside me. Denise rocks. She has a 2 year old son (and older twins) and knows all of Sylvie's tricks. She flat out offered to donate a liver lobe to Sylvie (how couldn't you love someone who offers that?!) although she's not a blood match. Our other nurse, Susan, grew up in Ridgewood and went to Montessori Learning Center-- Mrs. Brophy was her teacher too! Small world.

Tomorrow, a nurse from Valley Hospital home health will show us the ropes. Since Sylvie has to be back at the hospital ready to go for Round 2 on Monday morning we do not need to give her shots at home. I'm awaiting some of the prescriptions (Tylenol #3, Bactrim, Compleat food and I'm sure there's more) to get a head start on that. We've been cleaning and disinfecting everything at home because we really need to create the most germ-free environment possible. No stuffy noses, sniffles or tummy aches allowed in 391 Wastena Terrace thru May! We have a box of face masks just in case although Slylvie is terrified of them. I thought for fun we could put some puffy stickers on them or draw animal faces to make them silly instead of scary. It's amazing what constitutes fun, right?

Besides the obvious challenges, it's hard spending so much time in the hospital because of the lack of privacy and ability to do selfish little personal things, like listen to music! I've been humming in my head the soundtrack to the movie "Serendipity" and a couple of Matthew Sweet songs that I love. My friend Mike told me there's a new Cake album this summer which is something for to look forward to.

It would really make my day if Sylvie would actually eat something today.

Once Sylvie's port needles have been removed, she can bathe, wear regular clothes and so forth. It's not that noticable unless Sylvie's shirtless. Then it might look like a misplaced breast implant since she's so teeny. That's the best way for me to describe it.

OK have to pack up a few things, fill the car with some stuff and run home.