January 26, 2011 - 8 PM

Hooray - I am sitting on our living room sofa where Sarah is snoozing with her feet in my lap.  There's a fire in the fireplace, and our very tired Christmas tree is trying to rally for a few more nights of light.  We are home!  Seddon is at Market Basket to re-stock our larder and will fill Sarah's prescriptions.  At Sarah's request, we are planning pizza from her favorite Concord pizzaria.   Sarah has already been up and down the stairs to her bedroom twice.  She insisted on unpacking her bag.  She is by far the most organized member of our family, and those who know me will say that isn't possible, but it is true.  I just stood by for instructions about where to put everything.  But it was more activity than we had on any day in the hospital - maybe more than on all the days combined.  No wonder she is sleeping soundly now.

Maureen from Critical Care Systems came by an hour after we got home.  Sarah was due for a dose of penicillin, and Maureen had Sarah's pump and all of the supplies.  She walked us through the set-up of the pump and the bag of fluid with penicillin in it that will last the next 48 hours.  Sarah now has a cool small fanny pack (she asked for turquoise, but it's black) that holds the pump and the current bag of fluid and medication.  This will automatically deliver a dose of antibiotic every 4 hours.  It will be our job to change the bag every 2 days and monitor the pump for proper operation.  There must be an iPad app for this - I'll have to check.

Critical Care Systems nurses will also handle the dressing changes on her PICC line (once a week) and any blood draws that Sarah's doctors request.  In fact, they'll be back tomorrow to draw blood for the INR, which is the test for how thin her blood has become.  This test has to be kept in a certain range for someone with an artificial mitral valve.  The test will be frequent (almost every day) until Sarah's Coumadin dose is stable.

At 8 AM tomorrow, we will have a call from the pacemaker people.  They don't want to talk to Sarah or us.  They want to talk to her pacemaker - how weird is that?  Oh well, whatever turns them on.  This process will check on the functioning of the pacemaker.  They may also "turn it down" a little since the voltage can be lower as her heart heals.  Seems, sometimes, like we are dealing with plumbers and electricians rather than medical technicians.

Sarah's sister Eliza is off at her drawing class at NHTI.  Eliza has managed not only to be a fantastic support for Sarah (there were freshly baked cookies on top of the oven when we arrived home), but also has made progress in getting her complicated transition back from Central America on track.  She was too late to enroll as a full time student at UNH for the spring, but arranged to enroll in two classes on Tuesday and Thursday.  This will allow time for her drawing class on Monday and Wednesday evening as well as for a part time job if work can be found (Please see Sarah's new essay on Facebook about the jobs crisis in NH - IF you are one of those privileged to be in her Publishers and Writers group...and if you are, could you sneak me a copy of the essay?).

Sarah's brother Reed and his gf Lucy will be back for the coming weekend - so we will have everyone together again.  But this time, it will be at home instead of in the hospital and the Days Inn!