We are home again - not!

We did make it home yesterday!  The coolest part was that my sister-in-law, Kim, called late Thursday to say that she was going to the Bellevue Children's clinic for her son, Joshua, early Friday afternoon and that she could pick me up after that - how cool is that!

It turned out really great as Esther got discharged and booted out of her room (they had no beds and kids needing them - they were very nice about it and set me up in a conference room) around 1 pm, and Kim showed up at 2 pm - Daryl couldn't have made it down there before 5 pm!  And that allowed us to get to Bellingham just after Daryl got off work, so we were able to meet him and I got to go get Christmas lights and candy canes (today we get our Christmas tree!), and still get home at a reasonable hour!

We have pizza and watched Prince Caspian to celebrate my birthday and Esther's home coming.  She was quite grumpy for the first hour or so - I think she was a bit overwhelmed by all the love/noise/craziness at home.  But once we all settled in the livingroom, she quieted down and rewarded everyone with lots of smiles.  And yes, she does have a dimple - the cutest little dimple in the whole wide world!

We almost didn't get to go home - Esther develped an eye infection yestday morning and she was retracting more than normal, but she wasn't breathing faster than normal for her and they really needed the bed, and it was my birthday, so they let her go home with strick instructions to watch her very closely, weigh her at least once a day, and if anything beging to indicate fluid retention/heart failure I have to get her to st Joe's immediately.  Also, she is not to go anywhere where she would come in close contact with the public as she's still battling this cold and her immune system is lower than ever.  So sorry, but she won't be in church tomorrow.

And lastly, the scary part.  If she does decline this weekend or anytime between now and Jan 5, she will be admitted at St Joe's and be on IV Lasix and they will be scheduling open heart surgery as soon as possible. If she does well, they will be scheduling her for the surgery early in January as at this point it isn't "if" but "when"

OK...big change - we are now packing once again and leaving for St Joe's - since I was blogging the above (my computer crashed and I coudn't get back to finish).  She has started coughing and retracting and her nasal flaring has returned.  I am so bummed.  We had a family conference and decided to postpone getting our Christmas tree until we knew whether or not we'd be spending Christmas together at home, or in Seattle.  Pray that we do the right thing.

God, I'm needing that grace right now big time - this is so scary!  I just don't feel up to facing this...

Back to packing.  Sigh.. I just talked to Daryl and I just can't stop crying so he's coming home to help me get packed and down to St Joes....