We finally got everyone on the same page & we finally have a plan! As much as I’d hoped (& pushed) otherwise, Detroit will not take Emerson to surgery to dilate her bladder catheter back upL. It’s a simple procedure but, as I was reminded many times, nothing is simple with Eme anymore. Detroit simply doesn’t want the risk of something going awry on their watch. And for as much as I’d like to stay here through the end of antibiotic treatment (next Friday), we really need to get this bladder catheter resized so we can schedule the final surgery, get back to Colorado, & get on with our lives. I said I needed to be home by the start of the school year (Aug 19th). After this set-back with the catheter, though, I’m told early September. I just can’t push it back any further than that.
So… Eme is scheduled for surgery in Omaha next Wednesday afternoon. We’ll drive (private car, no life flightJ) back Tuesday. She has an IV med that will run from 9-10AM & we’ll leave immediately after that. It’s an 11 hour drive from here. Cardiology has cleared her to come off monitors for the drive and infectious disease has approved the mode of transport as well. In all she’ll miss 1 dose of IV antibiotic & will be late on 1 other. Omaha will have a bed waiting for her upon our arrival…
I talked to the coordinator in Omaha today & very nicely laid out my plan for the next month - dilation surgery next week, final surgery 3 weeks later, 2 weeks in Omaha to make sure everything’s working properly, then home by September 1st. She chuckled & said that sounds nice, but would assume Eme’s on board which, in the 2+years we’ve been in Omaha she never has been. Her plans always seem to follow a different schedule than mine. Indeed, Emerson is in charge & always has been on this journey!
A big shout-out to Mary & her nursing students from OU today… they’ve been with Emerson on and off this whole admission. We’ve had a lot of nursing students & instructors over the years & I’ll tell you, these guys were really a pleasure to work with. Mary was very involved and the students were responsible & respectful. As the mom of a chronic kiddo I really appreciate that. As I’ve said many times before, I struggle daily to make sense of all this. The very least I can hope for is that people – students, nurses, doctors – will learn from Emerson & be better able to manage those who follow in her footsteps. Hopefully Eme had an impact, however small, on these student nurses & hopefully they, as a result, have learned something from her!
Emerson was in good spirits today, although it’s 10PM & she’s been sleeping since 2! She woke up for 10 minutes screaming & has drifted back to sleep again. I think she’s just exhausted from this admission, but I always get a little nervous when she does this – especially with a central line in. Hopefully she’ll wake up alert & well rested tomorrow morning.
Finally, I had the opportunity to visit with my college roommate this week – it was awesome!! I hadn’t seen her in years. We talked for several hours & could have done so for days!! This weekend I’m hoping to catch up with some more old friends (make that young old friendsJ). For those who are wondering, yep – I grew up here! I also plan to spend tomorrow at the lake. It’ll be my last day with the family this summer. How I hope & pray next year will bring us the chance to stay for much longer!
Have a fabulous weekend… I’ll update again soon!