I Graduated from the PICU and all I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt

So Monday afternoon, Aly was looking really good. She had her arterial line taken out and had the EEG (the machine that they glue to your head so they can read your brain waves, I call it the Babooshka hat) removed. Her nurses gave her an express baby wash and changed her bedding and made her look super pretty. We had a speech therapist come by to do a swallow study and Aly did great. She had her first bottle since we went back into the PICU Wednesday night. She was a hungry little girl.


The PICU resident, Dr. Jessica, came by and looked at her and said she was doing so well, they wanted to let her "graduate" from the PICU to the infant unit. So we packed up room 12, where we've been for the last 5 nights and headed two floors upstairs to the Infant Unit on the 4th floor. Aly has a private suite, with a bathroom, and an excellent view of the parking lot. She even has a entertainment unit!

She's been doing good on the floor, although we are used to the more constant monitoring of the PICU. In the PICU, you are usually one nurse to one or two patients, and the unit is much more locked down and controlled. In the PICU, they have a shift change every 12 hours when the parents and visitors are kicked out while the Drs and Nurses huddle up and discuss the patients. It was frustrating at times to have to just pick up and leave for an hour while she was so sick. At times it was nice to have a break.

We had some amazing nurses and Drs in the PICU, I've been making a list of all the awesome people we need to thank. Now, I will have to keep track of the great ones on the floor. We are lucky that we live so close to Primary's. I can't imagine doing this if home was in another state or hours away.

Now that we are on the floor, we are hopeful that this can be a healing time for Aly, that the Doctors can continue to brainstorm and work together to figure this out. They still don't know what caused the brain swelling, and they are now moving away from the idea of it being a viral infection. They are going to have a rheumatologist look at her soon. They may have to a scan to check for a tumor. These are all things that scare me. Aly is a strong girl, and I know she is in the best hands, but I don't know how much more bad news I can take. However, a diagnosis could be good news because by some miracle this could a curable condition that we could take care of in this stay at Primary's and then we would never have to deal with it again. Right? A girl can dream..

I'll have to update after we get into a rhythm on the floor and learn what makes the infant unit tick. I'm hoping we continue to like it there and that we never have to see the PICU again. One thing that makes it different is she's able to wear actual clothes, instead of just a diaper. The gave her a little white t-shirt to stay warm, hence the title of this entry. :)

GO ALY!