SHAME ON ME!

It's been over a week since I've done a blog update?! What's wrong with me?! Of course you're chomping at the bit to know all things here is Russland. Well, I don't know what to say, I don't have a fabulous excuse as to why I haven't blogged earlier. Time has simply gotten away from me. So let me fill you in on all things Super Mama and Colby, recent past and near future.

Colby and I have spent our time together, HOME, for the most part just hanging out. He's back to a normal treatment schedule. No nurses, RTs, or doctors coming in every 17 seconds. It's wonderful to have our privacy and some sense of normalcy back. Colby is able to spend a lot of time off bi-pap, which is great, another shining example of how freakin' awesome my kid is. He has, however, had some issues sitting up. His oxygen stays fine, but within just a few minutes his heart rate is up to 130 or so, and that's at least 10 or so point higher than it should be. If he does sit up it's in his Tumbleform chair as he doesn't need his back brace on to sit up in it and he's more comfortable that way. I also haven't messed with his eye gaze much. I know, I know, this is the key that will unlock Colby's communication, and the more I have it in front of him, the quicker he will learn it. Well, sorry, just haven't been in the mood. Most of our time together has been in cuddle mode. We spend a great deal of time just "being" together. I have made an effort to give Colby lots and lots of PT. He seemed to be tight after we got home from the hospital, particularly his ankles and hips.

The weather has been great here. The only one single thing I wanted to make sure we did while home was swing. Dad brought over my swing last week so I could get Colby outside in the beautiful sunshine, and Colby could swing and jabber the days away. Perfect, let's do it, NOT. I'll be a monkey's ass, the apartment complex decided to do a huge drainage project while we've been home. My yard has been completely tore up for over a week, along with the fact that they stored this huge black, corrugated piping in the way of where we put the swing. Really, I mean seriously. Talk about crappy timing. They just got the pipes moved yesterday and we got the swing back where it goes. Now it's supposed to be muggy and hot the next couple of days (big sigh of disgust). So I'm getting Colby up early and by golly we're getting outside and swinging. Then we'll go back tonight when the heat of the day is mostly gone. Yes, we will get in some swing time this weekend, because Mama said so!

Colby gets 50 hours of respite nursing every 6 months. Not a ton but hey, we'll take what we can get. I've been trying to use a nurse whenever possible between these hospital stays. This past Tuesday I had dinner with a BFF Pammie from my old job at the school corporation. We hit Cheddar's for dinner, then did some shopping for me some casual hospital-friendly clothes at Walley World. She pointed out how sad, we weren't shopping for bathing suits or going out clothes so I could go on vaca, but rather clothes for hanging out in the hospital for weeks on end (another big sigh). But you do what you gotta do, right? Oh yeah, and I also bought beer. Picked up a sampler box of Blue Moon, pretty good stuff I must say. Wednesday night was the Lady A tornado benefit concert here in Louisville. I went with my BFF from high school and her gang. It was a sweet deal, they paid for my ticket AND picked me up and dropped me off back home. Can't beat that with a stick, can you? What can I say, Lady Antebellum was fantastic, awesome, super good in concert. One of the best concerts I've been to in a very long time. Their voices are incredible. This concert brought national media attention and awareness, along with $285,000 for tornado damage funding for the folks in Henryville that were affected by the tornado back in early March. Shut the front door, how great is that? Very glad I got to be part of it.

Last night was Wine Night. For the last 6 years of so, the 4 of us have met once monthly for this blessed event. I think we figured out that I've only been to 1 in 2012. Disgusting! We all make every effort to get together, just hasn't been in the cards for me lately. So I had a great time catching up on what's been going on with that group of girlie friends. Today/tonight will be spent chilling out around here. Dad is coming over at 10:00 this morning so I can do some last minute errands. Other than that, it's chill out time for the boy and me. We've been home from our lovely 37-day hospital stay for 20 days now. Time has flown by! Does anybody have the super power to freeze time?! If so, please, please let time stop ticking, just for another week or so?!

Okay, it appears I'm very chatty this morning, so how about I wrap this up for now? There's a lot more to report on what lies ahead for sweet Colby boy, i.e. trach surgery next week. I'll update on that later on tonight or tomorrow.