Coming Home

Today was a SUPER long day at the hospital. Our doctor told us in the morning we would likely be discharged around noon, but they needed to do another ultrasound to make sure the infamous "poop" was cleared and also to check his gall bladder as some blood tests came back abnormal on this one.

Jenson was very ready to be discharged and kept saying he wanted to "Go Target. Go Costco." When we'd ask him what he wanted to get at Target and Costco his reply, "Yogurt. Milk. Goldfish." The bare essentials for him. Very cute.

Due to the weekend skeleton crew, the ultrasound couldn't be scheduled until 2:30pm. The ultrasound itself was nothing short of brutal with Jenson saying "Go back (referring to his room)! No. Go back!" Can't say I blame him for being beyond over it given the events of the last month.

We waited and waited. We're sitting on pins and needles hoping that this huge ordeal may be finally coming to a close but also knowing at any moment you could get blindsided with more bad news. Please don't let it be more bad news.

Finally, the doctor came to talk to us about the results. She said, "The images are boring. And boring means nothing looks unusual, so boring is good. You'll be discharged soon and can go home." Whew, what a relief.

We have to take his "sticker" used to secure the needle into his port off, and let's just say the trauma of the last major sticker removal after his GI surgery is still fresh in his mind. This is 15 mninutes of screaming and crying as the sticker is removed from his port and the stickers from where the bone marrow samples were taken are also removed. "NO stickers", Jenson says between screams and tears.

We are officially discharged and Jenson and I head down to the car as Doug gets a cart for all the stuff we've now got at the hospital after a 2+ week stay. When Jenson and I walk outside and he feels the fresh air he says, "It's cold (meaning it's different than inside and in this instance it's hot). It's bright (of course it's bright when you haven't seen the sunshine in 2+ weeks). Awh, Mommy's car. Get in Mommy's car?" We get in the car, and drive around to pick up Doug with all our stuff and balloons. His Cars "Lightning McQueen balloon" rides in the back seat on top of the other car seat. It's starts to make it's way over towards Jenson's side and we hear him say in his sweet little voice, "No Lightning". It takes us a second to get it (we're thinking, it's not raining today and then we catch on) and once we move it he says, "Thanks mommy and daddy. No Lighting on Jenson" and he laughs. This makes us laugh because as usual Jenson is using his cute funny sense of humor.

On the drive home Doug and I are talking and saying, "Are we really out? Is this just a dream? Why do we have this sick feeling like it's somehow not over and we'll be forced back to the hospital soon?". I'm hoping it's just post traumatic stress disorder or normal emotions you feel after being hit with so much at one time.

Jenson wants to stop at Target before going home. This is an incredibly joyful "Target run" as he's so excited and enthusiastic to sit in the cart, show me where the yogurt is and pick out the flavors he wants, pick out the goldfish he wants, and pick up a gallon of milk". Talk about appreciating the simple things in life! We pick up the Jenson "essentials" and ask him if he wants to stop anywhere else. "No, go home", he replies.

Once we get home, you can see his weak little legs struggling with the walking he's doing, so he holds onto the couch and chairs as he makes his way by and then asks to go "Up-py". He's still got a ways to go to get his strength back. He wants to eat yogurt at the table and everything to be just like it normally is... he's disturbed I don't have a glass of water in front of me and won't eat until I go get it.

So, we're hoping our life will be returning to some level of normal again. Looks like Sydney and I will be taking our trip. We're certainly going to miss the boys.

Please pray for continued healing for Jenson and for strength for the balance of our family as we deal with the "aftermath" of the past 5 weeks.

Kristin