Paxton was being discharged today. YAAAAAYYYYYY! Against all odds, Paxton was recovering beautifully. He had stumped all of the doctors and nurses with how well he was doing. Susanne couldn't wait to get him home.
Moppy refused to let Susanne attempt her journey home by herself. Moppy gave her a good talking to before she left on Tuesday. She made sure to make it clear that even though Susanne had proven to be Superwoman many times in the past, Moppy would have a bone to pick with her if she did not allow her to help with the travels home. Susanne followed her strict orders. Moppy ended up flying back up to Boston this morning. She arrived at the hospital relatively early. She got to be present for the impressive reviews that Paxton was getting from the cardiologist. They were ecstatic with his progress thus far.
Once Paxton was at home, he would need to have a follow up appointment with his local cardiologist within the first week and his local pediatrician within two weeks. He would also be scheduled to have a private duty nurse make home visits twice a week for at least three weeks to monitor his progress. This would allow for a medical professional to be able to pick up on any subtle signs that there had been a change in his status. Paxton would also start his in home therapy sessions twice a week. Paxton would pretty much have some sort of appointment every day of the week. It was back to the same old, same old.
After the nurse went over all of the discharge instructions and gathered all of his medications, they were free to go. Moppy and Susanne had lunch before they headed over to the airport. They got out of there around 3:00pm. This gave them plenty of time to get to their gate. Susanne was hoping that the check-in process and getting through security would be a smoother process this time because they had a special letter. This letter of medical necessity had been written by Paxton's doctor informing the airline that he had just had open heart surgery and had increased medical needs. They requested their cooperation to allow for an expedited security check for the family. Susanne was pleasantly surprised with their response. They were met by an official from the airport whom escorted them to the airline counter. He explained their specific needs to the airline employee and requested specific seats for them so that they could get on and off of the plane a lot easier. He assisted them with their luggage and he escorted them down to the security gate. He had them close off an entire section for them to give them sufficient time for the baggage and passenger security screening. This helped them out tremendously. In the past, Susanne had done this entire process by herself multiple times. The TSA employees generally had zero patience for the time it would take Susanne to get through security even though she had an obvious reason for it, like having an infant with special needs. She was relieved this time because she had extra hands and the gentleman that had helped them through the whole process kept reiterating to take their time. She was extremely thankful that he was so helpful. They were at their gate in no time. Success!
They were supposed to board the plane at 5:00pm, but that time came and went. They waited and waited and waited. It wasn't soon after that when they overheard that there was a two hour delay with their flight. This was not what they wanted to hear. They finally boarded the plane thirty minutes after they were already supposed to be home. Once they got on the plane, they sat for another hour before they took flight. By this time, everyone was fit to be tied. Not only were the surrounding passengers sassy, but the flight attendant had a little attitude herself as well. Susanne and Moppy found it entertaining. Paxton did a phenomenal job especially with how tired he was. He didn't cry the entire flight home. This would be his fourth flight where he was quiet and cooperative the whole time.
Finally, they landed safely at BWI. This was their final destination because this was the only airport near the Washington D.C. area that had flights coming from Boston that were a reasonable price. Still having at least an hour long drive home would typically not be a big deal, but they had already had such a long day. They got on the road and were looking forward to getting in their own beds, especially Susanne who had the permanent marks on her back from the springs in the hospital bed. They quickly found out that their beds would have to wait a little longer. Moppy accidently took the wrong turn. She had admitted that she continually made the same mistake over and over when coming from BWI. It was confusing to know which way to go on the Capital Beltway. It took them a while to figure out how to renavigate their path, but they soon found their way. When they only had about ten minutes left in their drive, Paxton started wailing. He was drenched in sweat from being overheated. Nothing that Susanne did seemed to comfort him. She wished that she could pick him up and hold him, but that was unsafe as well as illegal. Once at home, Susanne took Paxton right up to bed. He fell asleep within minutes of his head touching his mattress. He was going to sleep well for sure!
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