I know, I know. Another blog about my personal life. It is what it is :)
Finally, after..
36 days in the hospital
34 days in the Pediatric ICU
1 open heart surgery
40 minutes of CPR
1 reintubation
6 days on ecmo
6 days of having his chest open
6 really, really dark days
2 different ecmo machines
3 emergency situations
7 days of being paced on and off
14 days of being paralyzed and sedated
16 days of not being held by Mom or Dad
58 units of blood and platelets
62 Ultrasounds, X-rays, Echos and EKGs
5 hospital rooms (4 actual rooms & 1 procedure room)
Countless medications
3 incisions
1 blood clot in leg
2 kidney failures
2 PD catheters
8 days of being on dialysis
1 collapsed lung
33 days of needing assistance to breathe in order to keep his stats up
6 days of not taking photos of our son because the image was too hard
1,000’s of prayer warriors
100’s of kind people who gave gifts, generous donations, cards, messages. There’s no way we can personally thank each and every one of you, so I hope you know how truly thankful we are for your support in whatever way during this season of our lives.
Countless people on his medical team including his surgeon, doctors, specialists, nurses, perfusionists, and therapists. You all will forever hold such a special place in our hearts
Through all of that, we have the upmost respect to those in the medical field, especially those who took care of Ryan for any amount of time during the stay. You ALL were absolutely fantastic to Ryan and our family and we will never be able to truly tell you how much we appreciated everything. Every repetitive blood draw you had to do hour after hour, every hour you had to sit in that awful procedure room with him, all the urine and blood you had to count, all my questions I repetitively asked and you answered so kindly, reading children’s stories to our son while he was unconscious on ecmo while his dad and I were sitting bedside sobbing, praying and pleading for healing, and your singing to my son during his lovanox injection. A special thank you to those who were involved in originally saving his life, there are never going to be enough words to say how absolutely grateful we are to you all, especially Amanda, RN and Dr. Grundstad for noticing right away that something was wrong and beginning CPR. Dr. Hockmuth for opening him back up to placing him on ecmo, and for going in and taking him off ecmo after an equally terrifying night 6 days later when Ryan’s body told us he no longer liked the ecmo canulas in his body.
After this whirlwind of a month, and so many unknowns, the most surreal thing is happening. With tears rolling down my cheeks and so much love and happiness in our hearts, this last Thursday we got to bring our baby boy, our miracle child, HOME!
