The final(!) countdown

Woody's release date has been pushed back to Friday, not because of anything that he's done but more because I'm just completing my training for my new job and need to do some other training with home care issues before they'll release him. This week has been taken up so far with a whole bunch of final tests that they need to do before releasing him. Most of them are revealing no surprises-- his metabolic tests, for example, look awesome. Others are showing some trouble spots, like the fact that his bladder tends to reflux urine back into the kidneys, which isn't a problem until it causes kidney infections, which is why he's remaining on prophylactic antibiotics for the foreseeable future.

The other problem scan is the one that tracks his oxygen and breathing over the twelve hour period, because it's showing him de-satting occasionally. This seems pretty usual to me, and the de-sats aren't serious ones, but it's a problem if we're going to have him at home without the monitors (which we will). On one hand, I really just want them to clear him so we can get him home. On the other hand, I really don't want him being sent home if he's not going to be able to handle it. Put another way, I don't want his oxygen sats plummeting if I don't have a monitor or a nurse there to help me deal with it.

The nurses are pretty sure though that the real issue is just that we need to find the appropriate oxygen flow rate to leave him on. We're talking about a difference between a flow rate of .01 and .012 and stuff like that, too; not a big difference, but we need to get to the right amount before they clear him.

I know that even parents of 'normal' kids are anxious about bringing home a baby and not breaking them, but imagine how Maggie and I feel with bringing him home, since he's been in the hospital for the last 130 days with professional care there constantly. What if he pulls out his cannula when we're asleep? These are the things that just make us freak out. But we're still so, so, so excited.