HOME

Currently perched on a stool in my kitchen with a glass of red, while Craig convinces Beanie that it’s bedtime.  Surreal, lovely, slightly stressful, but good to be home!

After a quiet weekend at the hospital doing our usual activities – visiting the “money box” on the main floor, throwing coins in the fountain, going to look at the toy train run around the food court, and of course, riding up and down in elevators – we were all anxious to get going but had to be sure that Gavin was afebrile (non-feverish) for 48 hours.  We hit the mark on Sunday night and were given the all-clear to leave on Monday.

I was hoping to pack up and go in the early afternoon but we didn’t escape the hospital’s clutches until about 6:00.  I spent the entire day talking to representatives from Gav’s various teams.  Yes, the entire day, from about 8:00 to 6:00 with a short break for lunch.  There were a lot of details to take care of, particularly all of our supplies and medications. I picked up our meds from the pharmacy and mentally thanked Craig’s amazing company for providing us with such an excellent drug plan.  Just one of the medications would have cost us $2,430. (!)  I think I ended up paying about $100 for everything, phew.  (On the same note, Canadian health-care… need I say more?)

I wondered how Gavin would react to finally coming home, but it was a little bit anti-climactic as he fell asleep in the car and went straight to bed.  Not to worry, he woke up at 1:00 am ready to party.  I think once he finally realized where he was he was too excited to sleep and ended up staying awake most of the night.  We all went down to the kitchen at 5:00 and got reacquainted with his toys.

Gavin has taken the whole transition in stride but is pretty happy to see all of his things again and play some of our old games.  He’s still a touch wobbly when standing or walking, but we’ve seen some really rapid improvements over the last few days.  His balance has been pretty badly effected so he needs someone hovering over him with a helping hand, but is doing a bit better every day.

There is a really strange sensation I get when I travel quite a bit or return home after a long stay away.  I wake up and have absolutely no idea where I am.  I’m looking around, half conscious, thinking, “Whose furniture is this?  What is this place?”  And for a moment it’s terrifying, and then reality clicks back into place, and I know where I am.  Last night I woke up and thought, “Huh, that’s weird that the hospital has the same light fixture we do.  And I don’t remember bringing that photo from home, but I guess I did.  Wait, what?!”  Then the realization that actually I was at home, asleep and Gavin was snoozing soundly in his crib next to our bed, cuddled up with Monkey and Blankie.  (Yup, we are full of original names around here.)

We do have to head back to the hospital a couple of times over the next week or so, but I hope that we’ll have a few uninterrupted days of quiet before we have to return.