Gratitude

Friends and Family.

Wow. I feel so much gratitude for your thoughts, prayers, words. I received so much encouragement today from people all over the world, and from every phase of my life. I'm feeling truly humbled by y'all.

Finn has had a good day. Sue, our day nurse just left, and she was very positive about Finn's progress. He's still working toward a big goal, and we should know more tomorrow morning about his progress. We are still days away from extubation, but he's doing great.

And . . . just cuz in this situation I'm completely okay with being "that mom" . . .  I'll tell you that Finn pooped TWICE today! Yeah!

I thought I would mix it up with this evening's post and share some humor with you. I'm not sure if this stuff is actually funny, or if it's only funny when you are in PICU delirium.

* This morning on rounds the Attending asked the Pharmacist if she had any concerns or suggestions. This was after a discussion of the sedation drugs (narcotics), the antibiotics, the diuretic, and all of the other stuff they are administering as needed. The Pharmacist said, "Let's get him started on a multivitamin." Kyle and I had a little laugh about that. So . . . take your vitamins!!

* Sue is our day nurse. We really like her. She's another one of those "gets sh*t done" people you want on your team. Her eleven year old son is a wrestler and he had a meet yesterday. Another staff member was talking about her days (in the 70s) as a wrestling cheerleader. I had a good laugh thinking about my mom's and aunties' stories of their days as wrestling cheerleaders. So . . . I looked up YouTube videos of wrestling cheerleaders. My favorite was D-E-T-E-R-M-N-A-T-I-O-N, Determination. I couldn't quite get the hand clap down, but I tried. Finn needed a cheerleader today, and doing it with a little levity was fun. Sue was even cheering about his "peak pressures" (ventilator jargon) and his "tidal volumes" (more vent jargon). She stood at the end his bed and had arm movements and everything.

* Okay . . . this one's not so funny, but is a good reminder about basic tact. I got on the elevator to go get a cup of tea and this woman looked at me and said, "we are you due?" OMG!!! I looked her square in the eyes and said, "I'm not pregnant. My baby is eight weeks old and in the ICU." She was stunned. If only I had been quick enough on my feet to tell her about the PICU diet.

* Speaking of the PICU diet . . . Kyle's been munching on my lactation cookies. I understand he wants to do EVERYTHING he can for baby Finn, but lactate, really?! Just saying.