Home again, with some not-great news.

Being home again is about 80% blissful and 20% stress. Upon returning home from a trip of any length, there occurs a dilemma that seems to get worse the longer one was gone: getting a household back up and running is akin to the work an engine has to do to get a ship moving from a dead stop. It's not such a big thing to keep it going once it's in motion, but those first few days of trying to re-stock the fridge, get laundry done, unpack everybody, deal with messed-up sleep schedules, make it to all the appointments...that all equates to the 20% stress. It's a good thing we have the other 80% to look forward to, or I might just not come home from long trips in the future.

We got home on Saturday, around 4, and spent the afternoon reacquainting ourselves with home. And eating out again, because there was nothing but cheese, limp celery, and lemonade in the fridge. I'm heartily sick of eating out...have I mentioned that lately? Anyway, we got home just in time for me to catch the bug that Tanner and the boys had been relaying all last week. Sunday morning, I woke up a little groggy, then got progressively more miserable until 10 o'clock found me back in bed with a box of Kleenex and some Advil. Oh well. At least it waited until we were home.

Thankfully, by Monday morning, I was functional, though still in possession of a cough and a voice like gravel. We left the house by 8:15 to do labs and X-ray for Brandt, then went to three grocery stores to restock Mother Hubbard's cupboard. By the time we got home, it was time for early lunch and naps. I joined them after putting away the fridge/freezer stuff, because Brandt had been up from 2-5 that morning...still can't figure out why. I needed that nap as badly as they did.

Nearly overslept, though, and made it out the door just in time to make it to our follow-up appointment with Dr Ruggerie. That went from 2-3:30, even without an echo, and then we had to pick up a couple more prescriptions and some ibuprofen at the store down the road before we went home. Got home at 4:15, put away the rest of the groceries, started laundry, and made dinner. Tanner didn't get home 'til 7ish, so the kids didn't go down until nearly 8 so they could spend some time with him. I know it could be worse, but 12 hours of nearly non-stop running on top of a cold was enough to completely wear me out. Thank goodness Brandt actually slept (fairly) well last night.

We got some undesirable news at our Ruggerie appointment, however: the fluid around Brandt's lung is back. It was minimal--almost gone--when we left Seattle, and we had had good luck with our current diuretic, but it's significant again. Probably bad enough to start causing discomfort, but it's hard to tell with a toddler that doesn't communicate well. The worst part of the already not-fabulous news is that our hospital isn't staffed to handle a toddler with drain tubes, so if this comes to the worst-case-scenario, we'll be going back to Seattle.

Currently, we're trying an unconventional method as a last-ditch effort to keep us at home: steroids and anti-inflammatories. Hopefully, by reducing the inflammation that's in the tissues there, they'll stop producing more fluid so we can deal with what's already there. If his X-ray is the same or better on Friday as it was yesterday, we'll get to stay home. If it's worse at all, we'll be on the first Mercy Flight out of town. It was strongly suggested that we show up with a packed bag.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this regimen is just a way to buy us a little more time at home, rather than a potential fix. I don't have a whole lot of faith that steroids can work this kind of magic, but it might slow down the production enough that it won't turn emergent for a while. So now, on top of recovering from our last trip, I get to make plans for our next one: freezer meals, repacking the suitcases, and now, trying to find childcare here at home for Wade, who will be staying behind with Tanner if/when Brandt and I fly out. If anyone knows someone local that's available from 7:30-5, Mon-Fri, I'm open to suggestions. I've got a couple leads, but more never hurts.

Anyway, I'm off to go tackle the day, now. Happy Tuesday!