24

We made it through our first 24 hours here at Texas Children's. Everyone has been very nice here, things are just very different. Bridger is already making friends with his sweet smile and his professional plastic tambourine music, one nurse asked if he was a rock star :). The plan for now is just for the team to get to know him better, because his health history is so complex that may take some time. Hopefully this week, the heart transplant team and lung transplant team will meet and discuss him in detail to map out a plan. We will let you know as things progress.

We're here

Well, we made it to Houston last night. The "kangaroo crew" arrived at Primary's just after 4pm and we got to Texas Children's about 10pm local time. This is the plane we flew on, it had just enough room for Bridger's stretcher, the doctor, the nurse, respiratory therapist and me. Bridger was strapped into a makeshift carseat on a stretcher, I was worried that he would get stressed out being strapped in for so long, but he did great! Half way through the flight I was able to hold him for a bit, but he was too busy playing with the medical team to be held down by mom. Flying in, we were able to see the medical center, it is as big as Salt Lake-just the medical center! It is all very overwhelming. One of the big reasons we chose Texas was that they said I could sleep at the bedside, as I have been doing at Primary's. When we arrived, however, they said that I would have to sleep in the waiting room. After all that had happened yesterday, this about pushed me over the edge. I explained our situation, and how in the last 11 months I had only been away a handful of times, and in the end we worked it out. I had to sign a release to let Bridger sleep in a big bed with me, but we did it. I am ordering a sleep cot that I can tuck away during the day, so that he can sleep in a crib, but until it gets here, Bridger is stuck sharing with me. This morning, I went to start some laundry on the 16th floor and grabbed something to eat, but I got lost on my way back to the PICU. This hospital is 22 floors in itself and there are bridges to all of the other hospitals as well. I am not sure what I am doing, but I guess I'll figure it out. A couple of the benefits here are that I can eat in the room with Bridger and I don't have to leave for shift change. So even though, we are very far from all of our support and love at least Bridger and I can be together other than when I have to shower, get food or do laundry. We miss you all so much. This is the scariest thing that Danny and I have ever had to do, but when I get past my fear, I still fell that this is right for our son.

TEXAS- here we come!

We got the call this morning, the critical care team from Texas Children's is flying in to pick us up tomorrow morning. The evaluation can take up to a month, but hopefully at the end of that time, Bridger will be able to be listed.

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! :)