Who's ready to go home?

We are!! I think each person in our family has reached his or her personal limit and is about to blow (well, except Tater who thinks every day is a party-poor kid is going to have the hardest time adjusting at home without all the nurses and RTs and doctors in his face telling him how cute he is). I'm usually pretty tolerant of the staff but even I'm getting frustrated with them now. We're supposed to be rooming-in and taking care of everything for ourselves but we have to ask for Tater's formula, meds, etc. And then they come in to "see if we need anything" if we haven't asked for whatever when they think we should have. I will be ready to be fully "in charge" at our own house. I know it's going to be exhausting and frustrating at times but we'll be home!!!

One of the many things we've been trying to do while we've been here is to get Medicaid for Tater. We have great insurance but the copays and the 20% we pay on numerous outpatient procedures and equipment are stretching already tight finances a bit. Tater qualifies for Medicaid because he has a "disability," and it's been a PROCESS to say the least-very frustrating. I was told it could take until July to actually get Medicaid so we resigned ourselves to waiting. LOOOOONG story short (imagine me, short) Tater has had Medicaid since April 1st and I found out through a fluke on Friday. No one told us he had gotten it and who knows when we would have found out otherwise. I'm still very frustrated with the whole process but my new mantra has become, "play the games to get the prize." The prize in this case being Medicaid. There are several other games I'm in the process of playing so if you catch me on a day I've been playing one of those, please forgive my bluntness and bitterness. :)

The great thing about Medicaid is private duty nursing (PDN). Our insurance does not pay for PDN but Medicaid does. And we can't leave Tater with anyone who doesn't know the ins and outs of trach care/changes and ventilators-literally. Not even for a minute. That means we were pretty much looking at a life of constant trach and ventilation, all the time. We love our kids like nobody's business, but the thought of never getting a moment alone was not adding to our excitement of going home. We're not ones to go out all the time but we do like to get away from the boys for a break every once in a blue moon. And while PDN has many flaws and we'll have to train most of the nurses in using Tater's vent, we'll at least have some opportunity to get out of the house sans all the equipment. You'll just have to forgive me in the future when I'm complaining about how horrible all the PDN nurses are and how we can't trust any of them-I'm still in the idealistic phase of all this.

We bust out of here tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. And not a moment too soon. We've had a good experience here but will not miss this place AT ALL. It may be a few days before I get a chance to post again. Our plan is to get home and be a family of four for a few days before the real world comes rushing back. Please forgive us if we don't answer the phone or emails-we'll just be busy living life at home in our PJs.