3/27

 Our ride finally arrived. The one nurse that was coordinating everything for us, man she worked her ass off. She waited for us to leave before she went home. She stayed late for us and I thought that was so above and beyond what was expected.

As Ethan was leaving, all of the nurses and doctors gathered around Ethan. They had their bubble maker guns out and started shooting bubbles all over him. How could you not smile? Everyone was clapping and cheering him on.

Ethan got to ring the “healing gong”. This is what I call it. When you leave, you get to ring it. Ethan hit it loudly. I looked at him and was thrilled. We are walking out together.

He decided he wanted to walk out of the hospital and not ride on the ambulance stretcher that was provided. That was him flipping off his hell. 

We made our way to the ambulance loading and unloading dock with our tiny cart and the stretcher loaded with our things. They put the stretcher in the ambulance and Ethan stepped up the big steps and climbed in. With help of course because we didn’t get this far for him to fall getting in the ambulance and bust his ass.

Their were two ambulance workers. The ambulance was small. It was hot. We asked if they could turn on the air conditioning.  The driver turned it on and it practically blew out devil’s air all over us. Not just hot air......HELL hot air. Chokingly hot and it was suffocating. I thought I was going to get 3rd degree burns from it.

“Please turn it off. TURN IT OFF. Oh my god! Why is it so blasted hot?” 

They then explained that the ambulance van that we were in, was older and there was some switch they would turn on in the winter time to provide only hot air and then they flip it in the summer to blow out cold air. Seems like a terrible design flaw to me. 

The lady proceeded to talk and talk and talk and talk. She was entertaining but my ears were tired and practically bleeding by the end. Pair that with the metal on metal obnoxiously loud scraping noise whenever the ambulance went over a bump. I had enough stimulation for the day.

I did totally enjoy when the sirens went on. They weren’t used the entire time but off and on and I loved it. Ethan hadn’t eaten so we ordered some food to be delivered for when we arrived.

After our 40 minute ride had been going on for an hour and a half, we arrived. Our driver started swearing in Spanish. The EMT told him to watch his language. After all the riding we had done, turns out, our driver had put in the wrong address and zip code into GPS and we were about a half hour to 45 minutes from the rehab.  I am glad I had a mask on because my face didn’t look very friendly. Ethan was uncomfortable.

When we arrived, we were told where to go with our stretcher full of bags. We made our way to our room. We share a room with a 23 year old man who was hit by a car right in front of his house over 2 years ago. He requires a lot of rehab. He has a traumatic brain injury. His mom is nice, but I didn’t care for her fish dinner she ate in the room this evening. P.U. Fish smells so gross.

There was about a 2 hour check in process. Only because there were so many medications that Ethan was on. My first line of business was that he was late for his methadone (withdrawl alert), and rejection drugs. Ethan was panicking because he was worried about withdrawl. The nurse was super nice. He put all the medication orders in. But then he brought the drugs and wasn’t giving them to us to give. He wanted to go over all the medications first. “Can we please just give these medications before we continue.” I begged. I was pointing at the late anti rejection medications and methadone. The attending doctor came in and told the nurse to give them.

We went over each medication and when it was due. Their notes didn’t match my notes. Luckily I was well versed in every dose he needed and what he had already taken. It was midnight and I was tired.

Ethan fell asleep and they kept waking him up to get vitals or do something. They also wanted him to watch an informational video about the rehab. He said “no” and told them he would watch it in the morning.

Finally...time for me to lay down. “Mom” I hear the nurse say to me. “We have to turn the lights on for a few minutes.” 

Of course you do....at midnight.....of course.  Lights as bright as the sun came on. Don’t look directly at them or you will go blind. I figured at least I would get a nice tan while I tried to sleep. There were some super gross suctioning noises happening on our roommate that no one could sleep through. I laid in bed, tired, gagging quietly. This poor man.

I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep. There were so many interruptions with vital checks, medications.

I woke up early with one of those “I am so tired” headaches behind my eye. I quickly dig out shower supplies and went to the shower. A nice, warm and clean shower. Ahhhhh. Then a warm cup of coffee.

I went back to the room. Ethan woke up. I had ordered him breakfast before I went to bed the night before. When it arrived his eyeballs became so big they almost fell out of his head. “Waffles? Yum!” He smiled. He ate well. People came in to see him and he actually talked to them. He looked at me and said “I like it here”. That was just the bright spot I needed today.

We had several evaluations and then Ethan got up and got himself ready in the bathroom. All by himself. Holy crap! This is a first. He even put his shoe on. 

“I am here to kick some ass.” He told everyone that came in his room. 

There is a really beautiful fish tank in the lobby that is so cool. We saw where the gym is. There is a rec room, teen lounge. 

At one point, Ethan looked at me and said “everyone here is fighting their own battles.” So true. What a great lesson for someone so young to have already figured out.

We have not been told how long we will be here. My guess was 4-8 weeks. I have a discharge meeting on Monday with the team to discuss what our goals are and they will have an idea of how long until discharge.

With the progress I have seen in the last 24 hours I can see Ethan busting out of here in no time.

Mind over matter is winning this battle today. I am tired and going to bed. Ethan is my bright spot today. When I told him I was tired and cranky and that I would try to be patient with him but may need him to remind me to be less salty.  He told me he was going to make sure my day was good and gave me a hug. He was true to his word.