Mary Free Bed

I know that I keep saying this but I need to keep this short because I am extremely exhausted.  With a new hospital comes new monitors and pumps and they just kept going off last night and I had no idea what was even alarming.  Now that I have my bearings a little bit, tonight should go much better and I really need the sleep.

We left DeVos around 11:00 Thursday morning with lots of well wishes and a few tears mixed in.  I was very anxious that morning and Keyan would talk all about getting to leave the hospital but would not talk at all about going to a different one.  I was really wondering if we had made the right decision.  It would have been so easy to just stay there until she was able to get stronger but we knew that wasn’t the right thing to do.  So, we packed her and all of our stuff into the ambulance and away we went.

We sort of got cheated with the whole room situation though…when I came to take a tour they showed me a double room that was going to be our but it would remain private.  That would have been great because I would have had an actual bed to sleep in, the room had a beautiful view, and it would have been more spacious.  However, an actual private room opened up and we were put there.  Not a whole lot of space, looking into a service parking lot, and I have to sleep on a cot that sinks in the middle.  It does have more storage space than our last room so I am trying to stay positive.  As you can tell from the picture though, Keyan settled right in to the new room and likes it because the TV is bigger and they get more channels!  Plus, you can actually go both up and down on the channels and not just up!!!  What a bonus.

After we saw a few therapists, nurses, and the doctor, she wanted to get to the play room…she LOVES it.  She loves the activities, toys, other kids, being out of her room, and the extra stimulation.  Even when she was so tired today, she did not want to rest, she wanted to go to the play room.  As you know, this was one of the highlights for us about coming here was that she does not have to be in isolation so she goes all over the place.  It has really helped her spirit.

Today she stated therapy at 8am and got in 8 different sessions by 3pm.  It is such hard work for her but she keeps on at it!  The therapists and nurses are very nice and are trying their best to learn Keyan and figure out all of her medical needs.  Keyan is not their average patient so this has been a learning curve for all of us.  The have been great about asking questions and not just acting like they know everything.

Overall, we are adjusting quite well.  They keep Keyan busy enough that the down time we use for resting and than the evenings she spends socializing with the other patients.  It is a lot more relaxed than an acute care hospital so we can go outside, wander the halls, ect.  Paul and the kids came up and we had pizza delivered and all ate in the playroom.  It was so nice.  The average patient that is here right now is middle school and high school boys…Keyan thinks they are hilarious and they take me right back to my teaching days.  They are all here for various reasons: surgery recovery, spinal cord injury, broken ones, or trauma, but the ones that we have met are all vary friendly and positive…they are a lot of fun and their favorite thing to do is to just about give me a heart attack by popping wheelies in the wheel chairs.  They all are very inquisitive about Keyan and can’t believe that she doesn’t eat anything by mouth…they can’t imagine!

To end, I must say that I have said many times that I can only hope that our family, especially my kids, are better people for having Keyan in our lives and having different sorts of life experiences.  I saw tonight that they are well on their way. All four of my other kids came into this hospital tonight, went into the play room and never thought a single thing about the boys who talked differently, were in braces, wearing casts, made funny noises, or anything else.  They talked with them, laughed with them, played with them, and treated them as equals.  They were completely comfortable with all of it and as a matter of fact, didn’t even seem to notice.  I was so proud of each of them!

Well, I must get to bed..therapy starts again in the morning…seven days a week to help her gain her strength to the point that she can safely return home!  We can’t wait.