1/21 - Sam's Journey -Day 40

Today was a very big day for all of us. We knew that it was possible for him to be moved to rehab today, but it was contingent on a several things, all of which were outside of our control. Not to mention that if Sam had anything weird happen such as spiking a big fever or the like, today was off the table. Knowing how he likes to mess with medical professionals, when we discussed the possibility of moving today while in front of him, we spoke in code to try to sneak one past him. The goal was to get him moved in and settled by early afternoon, and we would be told by noon at the latest. We were in our normal routine of sitting up in the chair while watching Judge Judy, which ends at noon. She had just finished up the last case of the day, and so I thought, "Well, that's it. We're moving next week." At that same moment, the door opened and the rep from the rehab center leaned in, gave me a thumbs up and a big smile and said, "Within one to two hours!" And for the second time during this journey, I did a happy dance. I rushed around to pack everything up and then...we waited. I think it was a little after 2pm when transport finally got there. They loaded him up for his second ambulance trip in less than a month and headed down here. While they took a more direct route, I decided to take the scenic tour (I abhor the Woodall Rogers) and got here around 3. (Just for the record, Sam did try to thwart our plan by having a crazy high blood pressure reading after he heard he was moving. He always gets agitated in the chair, so we laid him back a little, and his bp eased up. There was no way I was letting him win that one.)

Since we have been here, things have been good. You are probably wondering where "here" is. We are now at Our Children's House. It used to be associated with Baylor, but was acquired by Children's several years ago. That's really going to facilitate his care because they already have access to all of his records.  It's also more homey. It has all of the things in a typical hospital, but on the outside it looks like a huge Victorian house. It is a little bit farther than Children's, but at least we can stop worrying about toll fees. So far, the biggest thing of note is that he has been completely vent free since he's been here. When I got in, he wasn't even on the trach collar. He'd graduated to an HME, which stands for heat and moisture exchanger. It's also called and artificial nose. Since Sam's skipping the mouth, nose and  throat for breathing, he needs to get moisture somewhere, or things can go wrong quickly. Overnight, they'll put him back on the trach collar. If he can maintain good blood gases, he might be done with the vent for good. So far, so good. Tomorrow, we will probably meet with all of the different groups that will be working with him to hear the plan.

I know that a lot of you would love to visit Sam right now. As of the moment, I think it's best if we keep it how it's been. Please text if you're planning on visiting, and it's still not a good time for peers to come down. We are confident that most of that will change soon, and that he will start to emerge at a much quicker rate than he has been. At the same time, there is a reason this is called acute rehab. They are going to be working him to the point of exhaustion--and probably beyond that. Once we have established a schedule, and we know what will be good times for him, we will let you know. Thank you for your understanding.

We thank God that we were blessed with such an incredible medical team at Childrens, and that m
we are moving forward on the path to Sam's recovery. I'd posted on Facebook that we were moving, and one of friends commented, "Where you go...We go..." Thank you for going with us!

As we move from place to place, we move our collage of Sam & fam pics. Here they are in their new home away from home.