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| When we started training, my in-laws came down to watch Summer so that I could be at the hospital and also be at home to set up the bedroom for Danny. Just before his discharge we tried to show the kids each other and tried to explain that soon there would be two babies at home. The nurses in the Nurture Center made a "My Buddy" doll into a replica of Danny by adding a trach tube and a feeding tube to it for Summer to study. But I don't think either one of them had any idea in the world who that little person on the other side of the window was or what it had to do with them. |
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| Summer was having a great time 'helping' us set up his crib and having her grandparents stay around for awhile. I initially put Danny in the secondary bedroom of my 2 BR apt... keeping me and Summer together in the master bedroom. Later I changed it, putting Danny in the living room, Summer in the small and me in the big bedrooms. |
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| Danny was also having a great time with lots of one on one attention because he had nurses working learning to change his custom bavona trach and deal with his LP-6 ventilator and how to do his routine care ...and... mommy was there everyday too, which is something he always likes! |
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| Danny had to be transported home by ambulance because we didn't have a wheelchair finished to hold all of his equipment in a safe manner. It would be another year before we were done with wheelchair fittings! He was sedated with chloral hydrate because any kind of change and people's moods can effect the way he breathes and we sure didn't want to mess this up before he even got home. |
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| And when he woke up, Danny found himself in a whole new world. "home" to him was the hospital where he'd spent 30 months , never being more than 3 feet away from his bed. He had spent his entire life with 24hr care and the whole 'home' atmosphere was DIFFERENT for him. But he'd get used to it and learn to love being home....but also retained his love for the hospital where he is always a 'star' and he knows that everyone is there to love him. |
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| THIS is where my REAL job began! I had a whole lot to learn about organizing and maintaining peace in this kind of household. There were always alot of people in my home with me... and they all had different personalities and different likes and dislikes and different attitudes And I made mistakes, but we all lived through them cuz I'm still here telling the story! |
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