Discharge day is the best kind of day!

Ice cream outing!

As cynical as I am about hospital promises, I suppose it's safe now to believe them when they said we could go, this morning. You know, now that we've been at the Ron-Don for the last 4+ hours. They haven't called and told us to come back yet, so I think we're safe!

The latest toy conquest.

We enjoyed our nice, quiet room last night immensely. On top of the fact that we didn't have a roommate, they switched us to only needing vitals taken every 8 hours (not at all overnight, the way we planned it), and he was able to be completely off the monitors while he was awake, so he could move around the room as much as his little heart desired. It was great, but he was still not thrilled about the confines of the room. He never did settle in and sleep well.

The morning was quiet after X-ray and labs at 5. Around 9, the NP came in to wish Brandt a happy birthday and give him a present: discharge!! With the new diuretic he's on, he let off a lot more fluid overnight, and his lungs are looking better. We didn't even have the side effect of having his electrolytes drop again, so we're looking good on that front as well!

So I started packing up our stuff while they filled out paperwork! Tanner and Wade showed up around 10 to help. They'd had a relatively late night, because we had all gone out for ice cream after Brandt fell asleep, and then they watched a movie together back at the house that went late. We were just about ready to go when someone from the Child Life department came running in with a huge bag...a birthday present for Brandt! He's now the proud owner of a rocket and silky soft teddy bear. Wade keeps trying to claim the former for himself. eye roll

The boys got a chance to play after we hauled back and unpacked all of our stuff. Brandt, who had spent the last few days throwing a fit over any sort of exercise, spent half an hour running around like a wild child, clearly thrilled to have room to move. He then proceeded to eat half of his sandwich at lunch...also a large improvement, as he hasn't had an appetite in nearly two weeks.

Made a friend in the hall
while doing his obligatory
exercise.

He's just finished up a 3 hour nap, which was much needed, I think. Hospitals aren't conducive to sleep. He seemed amazed when he woke up that there was no one there to poke him. He sat in his crib and looked around quietly for twenty minutes before he let us get him up, and at the moment, he's laying on the end of our bed with no apparent plans to move. It makes a mother (and father) happy to see the relief exuding from him now that he's back in his own place.

Tonight, we're off for a celebratory/birthday dinner at Claim Jumper with Steph, Shawna, and respective husbands! Some cousins might join as well, and make a big ol' party out of it!