Last night went really great except there’s a friend on the ward who has to be 1-2 years old and they cried for about 5 hours straight. Everything in me wanted to go get them and snuggle them up. I don’t know if the parents were here or gone (a lot of parents leave their kids here). So Posie woke up several times from that, but that higher dose of melatonin is seriously working. Oh, hey, I got to have something different for dinner last night and it was fabulous! Yay!!

A completely useless bit of information: Atticus is the other therapy dog, not Arthur. There’s some need to know information for your everyday life. I’m really looking forward to coming home. But I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to be here and how confident I feel in us going home and being successful. Also my little miss and I haven’t gotten sick up here and I’m so thrilled about that. I did great in all of our feedings today, I even had staff tell me that I did great (which is why I’m confidently telling you that). I did mess up on verbiage and got out of order a couple of times, but Posie is a very routine/pattern kind of girl so once she’s been told the order at the beginning of a meal, she’s got it down. We’re going to have some packages waiting for us when we get home. I’ve ordered a few things for us to have at home, ready for us when we get there so we won’t have to wait. A new weight scale, food scale, timer, and new dishes for her, just to name a few. Things will very much be the same at home as they are here, with measuring/weighing/recording what she eats and also with weighing 2-3x a week. It’s our new normal.

We have a very special friend coming to visit on Saturday and Ms. Posie is very excited and she can’t stop talking about it. I love to see her so excited. At 2 PM I took Posie to the playroom while I went down to the board room for my meeting with the whole healthcare team (Dr. Semrin was here today, I saw him but didn’t get to speak to him). Posie played in there with the Child Life Specialists and then she got to have Cook Group. This is where the kids get together, well her SLP told me it’s usually the kids in the Rehab ward that get together, and follow a recipe and make something, and usually get to try it afterward, but Posie was included in this! WooHoo! She had a lot of fun, though she didn’t get to see it through to completion b/c it lasts and hour and only got to stay 30 minutes b/c she had feeding therapy.

The meeting went really well. . . . . Posie is still gaining much more than they want her to, she’s gaining 60grams a day. The dietician wasn’t able to make this meeting, so they’re going to talk with her and see what we’ll be doing next. Either we’ll eliminate the 1 PM bottle completely or take the night time and morning bottles from 8oz to 6oz each. And if that doesn’t curve the weight gain enough, then they’ll start replacing the Pediasure in her meals for water instead.

We are planning on going outside for some play time so we’re about to head out. I did find out today that if I had my car here I could schedule to take her out on a 6 hour pass, to take her to the zoo or to eat or somewhere. But since I knew I wouldn’t be leaving (namely b/c I was told I could leave but she couldn’t) I don’t have my car and it’s out of state Too funny. We found out our discharge date today and we know that we’ll be leaving two days later than I had told Posie, but she took the news well when I told her. Exactly one week after we get back home I’ll be having surgery. What that means is there’s no rest, we leave here, I go home and work like crazy (errands, dr appts, house cleaning, and putting extra hours in at work), just so I can have surgery . . . and spend another month trying to heal. Was this how I thought this summer was going to go? Not even close. Meanwhile, Posie is excited to get home and work in the garden with her sissy and daddy, and that will be a welcomed sight. Please pray for Posie!