Last week I mentioned that we were expecting Grace to come home , but then she came down with a fever so we had to wait. She came home today , hallelujah ! She’s doing well and we fully expect her to continue to get stronger . It’s been a long two and a half months. We are so thankful to God for his love and protection for our baby girl.

If you’re just tuning in, here’s a recap . January 2nd I came home from work at 7:45 in the evening and found Grace was struggling to breathe. She had been congested for a day or so. I tried all night to help her breathe, but around 6 the next morning, her oxygen dropped into the 70s. I said my prayers , again, and called 911. The ambulance took her to Katy Hermann Hospital Emergency center. I chased them in my van at top speed. She was in an exam room when I arrived. Being the height of respiratory infection season, the emergency center was overflowing with people lying on gurneys in the hallways.

It didn’t take long before she was taken to ICU where the doctor immediately stated that she needed to be intubated . After a couple of weeks of being treated for severe pneumonia, they told me she needed a tracheostomy. Unfortunately things took a turn after this usually routine procedure . I wrote about when she had a cardiac arrest and died for 12 minutes here. After a second surgery at Hermann hospital downtown to fix the trache, we returned to the Katy ICU.

While the nurses were always great , I was not as happy with the doctors in the ICU. After the cardiac arrest, and prior to the second surgery, they were extra careful with Grace, but after returning from downtown they seemed eager to get her discharged and were not very engaged in her case. This kind of thing is not uncommon with ICU doctors , however.

After a while they were ready to send her home while still on the ventilator, having made the determination that she might be dependent on it, but we needed to set up home health. That was a huge mess and at this point we still have no nurse. Finally they wanted us to put her in a skilled nursing facility while we wait for a nurse, but we said no thank you, we will take her home. Then she got the fever and we had to wait one more week. And here we are!

We feel kinda like new parents with a baby coming home from the NICU, except she’s 23 years old, having had her birthday in the hospital. We also saw Valentine’s Day come and go, but thankfully we will celebrate Easter with Grace at home, Lord willing!

Now we will be adjusting to life with a ventilator in the house . We will have to be vigilant and ready for anything. We had three days of training , really two , three weeks ago. On February 23rd we spent 24 hours on duty at the hospital. That seems like a long time ago.

All is well. Grace seems to be happy to be back in her own bed and surrounded by her family.