Friday, December 22nd

Kerrie has successfully made her move to North Oakland Medical Center!!

The Staff of P2 gave her a great goodbye and gave her an honorary nursing certificate before she left!!!!!!  They better watch out… as soon as she’s better, she’s going to be taking that certificate and demading a job on P2.

After her ambulance ride to NOMC, and getting checked in to her room, the rehabilitation team got right to work.. getting her up and out of bed, into a wheel chair, evaluating her speech and physical capabilities… they gave her no time to rest.

I got to the hospital, around 7:00pm, and the minute I walked in the room, and said hello, I heard her crying. I was worried something was wrong.. but she was crying because she heard my voice and was happy to see me. So.. we had a good little cry for a few minutes. The Nurse that was in the room with Kerrie was so touched that she said we were going to make HER cry.

The staff is definately ready for her… all the right cautionary signs are up, the plants and flowers have been moved away from the areas where she may be, they seem pretty well versed on what her Nuetropenic/Transplant precautions are… they even stopped me from just walking in her room, because they didn’t know who I was :). I was definately impressed that they were so ready and prepared for Kerrie!!

The staff was even ready for me and had a reclining chair moved in the room, so I would have some place to sleep :)  This ones a little different than the chair/bed I had been using and took a little getting used to.. but once I figured out how to lay down, so the chair would stay reclined, we were “good to go!”

It was a pretty emotional night for Kerrie and, although she was exhausted from everything they had her doing during they day, we had little sleep last night. She’s happy to be at NOMC, but getting used to a new room and a new nursing staff will take a day or two. Last night she really missed her room and her nursing staff, but told me it would be ok in a day or two. She feels strange now, but she knows she will adjust once she gets used to the new surroundings.

A long night with almost no sleep… and then everything started getting hectic in the morning. She had lots of visitors ( the people she knows in the hospital) and she was just as happy to see them as they were to see her. She started crying while a few people were in the room and we thought something was wrong again, but when they left the room I asked if she was alright.. she said “Yes.. I.. I… I’m just so happy.”

It’s a new room, with a new nursing staff.. but she’s in a hospital she loves, with people she knows all around her and once she adjusts to the move I think this is going to be very good for Kerrie.

By 10:00am, this morning, Speech Therapy was in to see Kerrie and Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy both scheduled right after Speech. It’s going to be another busy day for her.. so I’m going to take this opportunity to get my Christmas Shopping done ( and Kerrie’s) and go to Henry Ford Hospital to say goodbye to everyone on P2.

Kerrie you may not be  at home yet.. but you are “home” and you will realize it in a day or two!

 Jenn