A Good Night

I can hardly believe I spent the night away from the hospital. Yesterday I kept thinking, “I’m not going to be able to leave. I’m going to end up sleeping in a chair in the waiting area.” But when we went to see Rachel last night, she was sleeping. The nurses on last night were super sweet. I told them we were going to stay with friends but not to hesitate to call if Rachel was upset. One nurse told me, “If it was my child who was crying and no one called me, I would be upset, so we won’t let that happen.” They also said that they wouldn’t let her hurt any. I felt like she was in great hands and felt no anxiety about leaving her. God has been so good about giving me peace that passes understanding. It simply makes no sense how calm I’ve felt through all of this.

It was SOOOOOO WONDERFUL to get a good night’s sleep in a regular bed! I’m ever so grateful to our friends the Hammonds for opening their beautiful home to us last night. It was great just to get out of the hospital and talk about normal things for a while. We have not seen them in over 10 years, so it was good to catch up a little too. They were very understanding about how exhausted we were though. I cannot thank them enough! I feel like a new person today!

I called to check on Rachel this morning at 6:30, but they were in the middle of a shift change. CICU visiting hours started at 8:30. We got here about 8:45 due to traffic. I could hardly wait to get in to see how Rachel’s night was. She was sleeping when we got here but opened her eyes when we talked to her. The nurse said that she had a good night. She asked for us once and her nurse told her that we would be here when it was light outside, so Rachel went back to sleep. She’s still pretty groggy this morning. She would open her eyes and look around then close them again. She’s still pitiful. She cried a little bit but not much. I think she feels too bad to cry much. 😦 We stayed with her a little over an hour, but she’s mostly sleeping. Everyone is so understanding about her “special circumstances”. The nurse manager came over to meet us and pretty much said that we could stay as much as we needed to. They would have let us stay longer. But we left to let her rest. That’s what she needs most right now. We’re in the CICU waiting room. I asked the nurse to come get us if she wakes up or asks for us, and she said that she would. A little before we left she said pointed to her chest and said that it was hurting, so the nurse gave her some pain med and it knocked her out.

The doctor who is over the CICU today came by to talk with us. She shared that her little sister was adopted from China as a baby! She’s ten now. So cool.

The doctor said that her pneumothorax is about the same, maybe slightly larger, but that it’s not hurting her at this point. They are just keeping a eye on it right now. She also said that her heart was not quite pumping exactly like they want it to yet. It’s beating slower than they would like, so she is hooked to a pacemaker now to keep her heart rate where they want it. Because of these two things, she will stay in CICU today.

Brooke the child life specialist who we met during our July visit came by to see Rachel this morning. She is a sweetheart. She said that maybe Rachel would feel like playing this afternoon, and she would bring her case of Barbies to the CICU. She and Rachel’s nurse wanted to hear our Mandarin Cinderella dvd, but Rachel didn’t feel like watching a movie.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!! We have truly felt all of the prayers. Will update when I know more.