After 11 months of life in and out of the PICU, the staff decided that Bridger is part of their family. Yesterday, we were able to go down to security and have his very own badge made.

Let's catch up....

We have been so busy talking about the boring stuff, let's catch up on all of the fun things that have been going on this week..... One of our nurse practitioners is also on the life flight team, last night she took us up to the roof to watch the sunset and while we were there a helicopter came in. We were able to check it out, they are quite small, there is only enough room for the patient, the pilot and two nurses. Its a good thing that this isn't what we are taking to our new destination. P.S.--Daddy will be so jealous!

The sunset was beautiful and it was even quite nice outside.

On Monday, a therapy dog came to see Bridger, her name was Rosie. She is not the same as our boys at home, but we sure enjoyed her company.

Since Bridger had his central line taken out of his leg last week and placed in his chest, he was able to sit his lower half in the bathtub. At first, he wasn't quite sure what to think, but then he decided it wasn't so bad.

Texas?

I spoke with the coordinator from Texas Children's this afternoon and due to some communication issues, they were unable to setup transport for tomorrow. Now, the plan is for their head physician to talk to our head physician in the morning and unless something comes up we will either fly to Texas on Thursday or else we will go home tomorrow for a few days and check back in Sunday to fly out on Monday. I'll let you know what I find out tomorrow.

Webcammin'

For months my sister has been asking me to setup a webcam so that she can see Bridger from wherever she is living. I kept postponing it, but finally with the possibility of moving coming our way we setup skype videocalling. Yesterday we called my sister back east, one of our nurses who is in New York and some of the grandparents. It was so fun, Bridger was able to see them all and they could see him too. Today I talked to Texas Children's who said that there are some details to work out, but we will know tomorrow if they are coming to pick us up Wednesday morning. It was a lot to take in, but we are grateful things are hopefully moving along. I'll let you know if we need to get out our cowboy hats! :)

Happy 24th!!!

Bridger had a pretty good day yesterday. He might be working on another infection, but he is still in good spirits considering. Last night our nurse took us out on the terrace to watch the fireworks! It was great, yet another holiday we were able to celebrate as a family.

Turns out we weren't the only ones with this idea and another mom brought glow necklaces for all of the patients. Bridger didn't know quite what to think. He wasn't that interested in the fireworks either, but more in the kids he saw around us. But it was still fun.

We have been able to take a few short walks with our nurse. Bridger just likes to kick back and enjoy the ride. We have interest from Texas Children's and Pittsburgh Children's to have us go to their facility for evaluation and St. Louis Children's has said "yes" they are willing to evaluate Bridger. We are hoping to have something lined up sometime this week. Until then we are going to keep going for short walks-if Bridger is up to it and maybe even go home for a couple of days before we make our move. Where ever we go the evaluation can take up to a month before they say whether or not they will put him on the transplant list, this means that no matter what Bridger and I will be gone for a while. I guess this is one way for us to see a new city, even if it is just looking out of our hospital window. Always a new adventure!

Extubation!!!!

Bridger went to surgery yesterday, where they were able to place a central line in his right facial vein. You can't see any part of it except where it comes out of the body in his chest. I think this will be much better where he won't have anything impeding his arms or legs. This morning his breathing tube was taken out and he was placed on high flow oxygen (this is what we have at home). Also this morning the cardiologist in the ICU informed us that there are four other centers to send Bridger's paperwork to for heart-lung transplant. So the ones on the list are St. Louis, Texas Children's, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Nationwide children's, and Miami. Here's hoping that at least one of them will be able to see more than just Bridger's chart, maybe they will be able to understand his strength and resiliency. After Bridger was extubated, I was able to pick him up all by myself (when he is intubated, it takes 3 people to get him in my arms) what a gift to be able to pick him up again whenever I want! Today has, so far, been a great day!

No go on the PICC

We went down to the specials lab this morning to have a PICC line placed in Bridger's arm so that the infected line in his leg could be removed. The doctor was able to get into the vessels of each arm, but unable to thread the catheter all the way to his heart. Not exactly what we were shooting for this morning, but they were able to switch out his g-tube for a g-j-tube(this feeds into his intestine, not the stomach). That will be helpful because Bridger has been vomiting frequently, so he is not absorbing his calories or his medications as he should be. Since we were unable to get a PICC line, Bridger will go to the OR tomorrow to see if they can surgically place another central line. Keep your fingers crossed.