Are we there yet?

So remember how I said yesterday that I wasn't getting my hopes up?

I lied.

They're totally up.

And even though I haven't really said anything to Sam about home-going, he can feel it. It's starting to be wearing.

This morning, for what was one of the first times this whole round, he fussed and grumped and cried and said "I want to go home" in that angry-frustrated-I've-had-enough-of-this voice as he dragged his IV pole to the bathroom before his morning un-hook.

So we had a slow start to the morning. I sat on my couch, looked out at the rain, and let him settle down....it took a little iPad time, a few extra grumpy comments that I cheerfully ignored, and finally I played one of those classic Mom Cards.

"Hey, Sam, can I try that Wii game that you keep doing? Will you show me how?"

Grumpy Sam: "If you want to play Wii, you can do it yourself. You don't need me."

This was not the answer I expected but I rolled with it, set up the Wii Fit board, and got started.

Before I was even logged in, he said "Okay, now it's my turn."

A-ha! Sneaky mom trick SUCCESS!

And it was all good from there.

Carson, Abagael and Jen came to visit. We played helicopter, Wii, and Hidden in Plain Sight (also known as Run Around The Room Like Crazy People.)

Eating, drinking, moving, playing....that was our day. Including a nice long bath. "Just to play, not to wash, Mom." Gotcha, Sam. And there was a glow-stick battle with the doctor. In the dark. And they looked like light sabers. Which was totally awesome.

I might have started to pack some things up and send them home with visitors.
I might have started to imagine that our first-day-of-school pictures will have FOUR children in them. (Even if Sam can't go to school, he can take pictures.)
I might have started to get my hopes up.

It's funny, in the first round, I think we never actually believed that we would ever go home. I mean, they told us that we would and we counted the days religiously, but we couldn't envision it. Now it's all we can think about. We can totally envision it. We can practically feel it and taste it. And every time Sam talks about going home, I can honestly say, "soon, sweetie, soon..."

--

There was a lot of response to my Doctor-Speak in the last post, and I'm also here to report that I read the opening and closing parts (the Doctor-Speak and the Translation) to our resident and she laughed...we tried to decide what would happen if she opened her rounds tomorrow with "this kid has been here an ungodly amount of time and we can't wait to get rid of him" but decided that might not be in the best interests of her career....

And for the interested medical people, the "blah blah antibiotic" is something called cefepine. If that's how you spell it. I was hoping no one would notice the blah blah part.

So our numbers are rising, in that frustratingly slow way that they do...we're off the TPN and Lipids (that's nutrition by IV) since he's eating and not losing weight. Aside from a few maintenance meds that will all end with rising counts....we're ready.

Are we there yet?