Greetings from Spaulding Rehab!
posted by Jenn Solomon, Tuesday, October 22, 2013, 11:45 PM
Yesterday when I went to bed and as I was crying myself to sleep I wondered if I had made a bad choice...did I choose to have this surgery for my daughter and it was going to be a waste of time and was she going to end up being worse off? I was in hell...I was trying to make a joke of things and yes some things were funny but it was HARD. I can do hard but I can't do hella hard with my daughter unhappy and miserable. I can't do it being away from my other two kids and relying on so many people to help us. I can do hard for the right reasons. And I finally feel like I made a great choice and this is going to be so very good for Rachel/Shellbe. She is just going to hit this out of the park and here is why.....
We are so excited we are coming out of our skin. Moving to Spaulding has already done a so much for both of us. Before I get into that let me tell you about our day.....
Children's is like the Red Roof Inn of accommodations...a good way to put it is they are used to dealing with emergencies and putting out fires...things of a catastrophic nature...you know that friend of yours that you have that the sky is always falling...they have a bunch of balls always in the air and they all fall at once and it seems they fall every week. THAT IS CHILDREN'S. No schedule no rhyme or reason. Don't get me wrong they are great. They do surgeries well, they take care of their children well, they have the best surgeons in the country there. They care for their patients well. Honestly I wouldn't go anywhere else. But everything is chaotic.
Our day started with Jen Skolnick visiting us first thing this morning with breakfast and chocolate munchkins for Shellbe. Shellbe was very whiny and puked at one point but Jen got her laughing so hard. It was great! It was the first time she laughed in 24 hours. Then when Jen left Rachel started crying again. She didn't want Jen to leave...it was really heart warming. Then PT showed up at 10:00 while Rachel was trying to POOP! We didn't have her AFO's on we were not ready to go. This meant that we wasted 15 minutes of her PT time getting her ready. There was no warning. They just showed up. So she had her 35 minutes of PT. Chenoa and Kat came for a visit too! The cat had Kat's tongue because she said like 4 words the entire time. But they brought name tags with fun markers and glitter glue for Shellbe. This way when we rename everyone they will have their name tags! We used this for part of the PT session. (Go Chenoa). They also brought a wine opener. Hallelujah! The DOG showed up! Finally!!! The last few hours we are there and the dog shows up. Seriously?!?! That would have been freaking fabulous earlier this week. After the dog and Chenoa and Kat left I decided that I wasn't spending another minute in that room. I put Shellbe in a wheelchair and we walked around the floor. When I found out that insurance had initially declined her stay at rehab instead of losing my freaking mind at the thought of spending another night there I took Shellbe on an adventure downstairs. We went to the cafe had lunch and walked around the hospital. When we went back up stairs to go to the play room they told us that insurance approved the claim and we were good to go! Ambulance was coming at 2:30...really we left at 3:15. SHOCKER!
After all of the freaking out the ambulance ride was uneventful and easy. Shellbe named the rider in the back Mike Wazowski and the driver BB (his name was Brian O'Brien. we immediately called his parents dumb aka douchecanoes...who does that - names their kid Brian with a last name O'Brien)
Then we got to Spaulding. Spaulding in comparison is like the Ritz. Everything is bright and shiny. I have my own bed. We have a dresser for our things. We have our own shower. There is a SCHEDULE for PT and OT and tutors and meals. There is an actual freaking plan and structure. I can actually take a shower. Shellbe is a new person. She only cried once since we've been here. There is no crying in the back ground and no mother yelling at their kid. No nurse comes in and pokes at Shellbe all night unless I want them to. I have already taken a shower and actually got to have dinner with Shellbe and I didn't have to shove something down just to eat. It has been heavenly. She also hasn't had any drugs since we got here. Her back is sore but she isn't screeching in pain. And that is because we don't have roommate screeching. We can finally work on her rehab. I am so excited. This is going to be great for her, just so great.
Here I am sitting in a quite room, after taking a shower, my daughter is sound asleep, I have a glass of something smuggled, I am writing this post and we are happy. This is still going to be hard. But it will be good hard. And that we can do.
Love,
Jenn & Shellbe
