Going Home Tomorrow!!

Jiliang will be going home tomorrow!!! Tomorrow will be Day 24 of being in the hospital. The chest x-ray this morning was good, at least for her. I keep finding out new, mysterious things about her, and it is all so hard to understand everything. They are sending her home a whole slew of medicines, so the next few days are going to be busy getting the prescriptions into our hands, and getting into the routines. Between all of the different medicines, she will be getting medicines about every 4 hours. After June, we should be down to only 2 medicines: One, 3xs a day and the other, only once a day.
Her balance is still a little off. However, she almost tries to sprint or run when I am with her. I need to get one of those little shopping carts for her to push around for her balance. They talked about doing some short-term outpatient physical therapy for her if needed. I think that she will be moving and grooving when she gets home. The wobbliness is a combination of the medicine and it due to some muscle atrophy, from being in a bed for over 3 weeks.
She had another echocardiogram yesterday, and compared to the one on May 5th, the heart function and the pressures were pretty consistent. I am a little worried about those pressures. I want more specific information. Every time someone says that her pulmonary pressures are still "high", I get scared; or when they say anything about Pulmonary Hypertension or damage, I get a knot in my stomach. I don't want to know how bad she is compared to a normal heart and lungs, but I want to know how much better she was before the surgery. I want to know how far she has come. That will give me a much better perspective. The truth is: No one knows what her future or prognosis is at this point. I opt to see the best-case scenario, because I have learned that a positive attitude does wonders for healing. I know that I can be positive and hopeful, yet still handle whatever life or fate throws our way. Life is so precious, and I am working on taking everything one step at a time. I know that Scott would agree.
I do know that her Oxygen Sats tend to drop when she is sleeping, which is attributed to her ASD, with a right to left shunt. She also does have an enlarged heart from it having to work so hard. When her heart begins to heal, it may revert back to a normal size. I only shutter to think what a few more months in China without medical intervention would have irreparably done to her heart. However, I thank God that she was well taken care of in China, because she is miraculously here today.
I thought that being at the hospital for so long would give me an opportunity to read several books and get a few things done. I am shocked at how much work I actually do here. I have bathing her, changing her, giving her medications, walking her, comforting her, entertaining, taking her to the restroom, and talking with doctors and nurses. I am so tired when I go home each night. I think I was less tired when I was working 2 jobs up until I went to China. Ha ha. As much of an adjustment it is going to be, I am really looking forward to taking her home. I also go back to work this coming Monday, so that will actually be a nice way to get back into the swing of things until summer break.
T.J. is really looking forward to Jiliang's Homecoming. He was so excited to hear that she was coming home on Thursday. The kids also play together and entertain each other very well.
Tonight, Jiliang has a nurse that speaks Mandarin. Yeah! Jiliang really likes her. We called in a translator today, specifically to explain that she needed to swallow her particular pill that usually gags her in liquid form. The translator was the same woman that came the day of her surgery. She tried to throw an animal at her, and when I blocked it, she tried to throw her helmet at her. Luckily, I blocked that too. We tried it in applesauce and sherbert, and she did not cooperate very well.
She would not acknowledge the translator, once again, but we could tell that she understood. An alarm in the hall went off, and Jiliang spoke in Chinese: "That sounds like a telephone". Then, she realized she goofed up, because she never acknowledges the Mandarin language, accept in the presence of family. The translator asked her to repeat, but she ignored her. Instead, she pretended to fall asleep and play possum.
I am tired, and very ready to get my girl home. I will try to post some pictures of her later. Thanks so much for all of your support. The prayers and encouragement really help on those tiresome days.
Jill :)