Todd spent last weekend with Caroline so I could go home, get a few things done, and get ready for another week at the hospital. After church on Sunday, we stopped by a friend's house who gave us a gift basket filled with things for Caroline from all the CC people. Not only that, but a bag filled with cake pops. Strawberry. Her favorite. Caroline really enjoyed opening everything.
That evening, Todd took Josiah out to his favorite restaurant, McDonald's, before LifeGroup. Henry's LifeGroup starts next week, but he got to hang out at a friend's house for the evening.
Monday morning, Caroline had her blood thinner meds with ice cream. The nurse hid them in the ice cream. Caroline took one big spoonful and swallowed all of them. Then she enjoyed the rest of the ice cream for breakfast. Not a shabby way to start her day. Also, on Monday, there was talk about transferring her to the hospital closer to our house, so we made sure to get up to the Activity Room before we left West Tower. It was on the 16th Floor and she was able to play pool, Mario Kart, air hockey, a small old-school video game, and they also had an Xbox. She wasn't as familiar with Xbox, but she figured out how to get to the preprogrammed games. What did she choose to play? A game where she power-washed the dirt off a van.
We got back to her room in time for the floor doctor to come by and say goodbye. We were being transferred at 5:00.
Caroline has had so many doctors and nurses and PCAs and just about everyone medical come through her doors. She has expressed zero interest in any of their careers. But one day, housekeeping was in the room mopping and Caroline said, "I'd like to do that." Mop. I told her she could mop my floors any time she wanted.
When we got back to the original hospital, Caroline discovered a new and fun career. Angus came to introduce himself on Tuesday. Angus is a 4-year old Lab/Retriever mix. He has come by for three days and he has been amazing. His favorite thing to do is snuggle. He sidles right up to Caroline and just closes his eyes for a nap. She scratches his head and ears and just loves being near him. His handler is very kind, she's a Child Life Specialist, and she answers all our questions and tells us fun things about Angus. Caroline says that would be a good job.
The new hospital has its own set of rules. The staff is older than the downtown hospital and they have their own way of doing things. They want to keep her hooked up to the IV 24/7 so as not to introduce anything unwanted to her PICC line. They also make her change her sheets daily and check that she wipes down with special wipes.
Caroline was so happy with the Activity Room at the Downtown hospital, that we tried out the activity room at this hospital. We walked in and realized it was an awesome activity room for those ages 3-6. We didn't stay long. Later in the week, the Child Life Specialists said Caroline could get portable video games so she's had one in her room for a few days now. Usually you get it for two days and then it goes on to the next kid. Caroline had me playing Minecraft with her one day. I warned her I was slow. I did not disappoint in that respect.
Tuesday morning, Caroline had a rude awakening. At the new hospital, they were unwilling to break her pills. They had to be taken whole. These are the anticoagulants and they are six little pills (thank goodness they're small). I tried to hide the first one in her ice cream and have her swallow it. She was already upset that they couldn't do them like the previous hospital, so we were not starting off well. The first spoonful resulted in the pill getting stuck to the roof of her mouth. She was frustrated. I was frustrated. She got more frustrated. I got more frustrated. I finally told her she just had to figure it out because they had to get in her body. I turned to look out the window and after a minute she said she swallowed it. Yay! Then I told her how I swallow pills and she tried it my way and agreed it was easier than the way the people tried to teach her last week. Now she swallows all six pills each morning with no difficulty. That was a huge hurdle. She still finagled an ice cream for a few mornings, but even that has stopped.
And because she's been feeling so well, we opened up her brand new 5th grade math book. We've done a lesson each day even though she isn't too excited about it. However, it is the start of the book, so it's ridiculously easy anyway.
Our days have been filled with many pages of MadLibs (checking off the Grammar box there). I am making her diagram a sentence a day, too. The sentences are about her eating ice cream or hanging out with Angus, so they're not too bad. She's made slime. She and I had a contest where we made things out of Playdoh and we had to guess what each other made (we gave ourselves a 4 minute time limit). We take walks around the unit in the evenings when they started giving her a 4-hour reprieve from the IV. But there is still a ton of downtime. A ton of games on the phone. A friend gave us a 3D Statue of Liberty puzzle. Caroline helped do the base, but I've been working on the body. It's a lot tougher than it seems. But the best part of each day is still Angus.
Mealtimes are getting rough. When I ask what she wants to order, it is usually nothing. She is really tired of hospital food. Todd brought her sushi Wednesday night and she spread it's goodness over several days. Quesadillas are always requested.
The evenings at the hospital consist of Caroline doing her night time routine - she has to do a special wash for her PICC line. When she is unhooked from the IV she can wipe down and change her clothes, she brushes her teeth, we make her bed with new linens, she does her nasal rinse, and then she's in bed for the evening. I make up my bed and do all the things, too. Then, as I lay down, Caroline completes her math worksheet (the Lesson is during the day, the worksheet at 10p.m.). I promptly fall asleep. Caroline stays up, gets herself a bowl of chips, and watches cartoons until who knows what hour. Over the course of the week, I have woken up at midnight, 3:30 a.m., 5:30 a.m. and each time, I have to get up to turn off the TV. Each morning I ask her at what time she finally went to sleep. She never remembers. The doctors told her that her sodium was low (this was soon after her surgery), so she could eat salty foods to get it back up. The doctor this week said she's probably good by now. But the Ruffles taste good at midnight.
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