Surgery Week: Day 5 - Going Home

It's sad and a little frustrating that it has taken me 6 weeks to finally finish this, but here it is at last!

I called the cab again Thursday night and made arrangements to be picked up at 6:30 again. This time there were no issues with the location and I made it to the hospital before 6:40.

As if it watching the changes Thursday wasn't enough, it was so amazing to walk in the room and see my beautiful baby boy, his head perfectly round, and his eyes OPEN! He looked so good! 

I can only imagine how wonderful it must have been to him to spend several days in darkness and then finally be able to see. What a miracle! He is in that stage where his hands and fingers and the most amazing discovery ever, but I have a feeling their incredible abilities were even more stunning once he was able to see them again. :)

He was so cute grabbing on to anything he could and either studying it or shoving it in his mouth. They removed the last IV during the night so he finally had full range of motion.

Playing puppeteer with his foot. Love it!

Pierscen's sodium level did come up during the night but it still wasn't quite as high as they wanted it to be. The Plastic Surgeon Fellow, the guy that removed the turban, came in to let us know that we should be good to go, but that I would need to give P 1/32 tsp of salt in his bottle twice a day for 5 days. That's a pretty tiny amount. But that was a simple thing to ask if they would let us go that day. :)

I loved this Tech! She was so cute and so sweet. I was so glad she was there for discharge day!

The Dr told us all we needed was the okay from the Neurosurgeon to go home. Unfortunately he couldn't give us a time line for when he would come down to see Pierscen. I talked to Ellen about getting a ride home and she said that my brother-in-law Cameron would come pick me up. They live in South Jordan and it made a lot more sense for him to come pick me up since he was heading to Orem anyway than making Ellen drive up from Orem and then back again. So we told the nurse that I needed to let my family know when they could pick me up to see if that would get the doctor down any faster.

That seemed to work. The plastic surgeon doc called neurosurgery again and one of the other doctors that had come to check on P said we didn't need to wait for his actual neurosurgeon and that the discharge plan he had given me sounded good. If he made it down in time, great. If not, oh well. 

So I called Cameron and let him know I was good to go. Then to expedite things, I went down to the pharmacy to fill his pain meds. While I was gone, his neurosurgeon made it down, did his 2 second check, and cleared him to go.

We left the hospital around 1 pm. Beautiful bald baby. :) He head was still pretty swollen, but look at those eyes! So much better!

It was so strange to be leaving the hospital. It felt like we had been there forever. And yet it felt like we just got there. I wish Ryan was there to go home with/to, but at least we were finally done!

After eating lunch at my in-law's, I drove Cameron's car back to my house so they were all taking one car down south for a family trip. 

Walking in the door I had very mixed emotions. I was so grateful to be home, to be through with this ordeal, and yet, I felt bogged down by anxiety. I felt so alone walking through the door knowing that there was no husband waiting there, a half-packed disaster of a house, now the responsibility of taking care of a baby that I simply wasn't positive how to take care of. I felt nervous and overwhelmed and incredibly emotional. You know how often after spiritual experiences you tend to feel exhausted afterwards? I think that was a big part of it. I had been buoyed up for so long, this was the crash. 

I did my best to set up Pierscen's crib like it was in the hospital and put him down for a nap. I was so thoroughly exhausted I decided I would crash for a while too. I went and climbed in bed, but I was still so anxious about the insurance issue, I couldn't sleep. I decided to call Blue Cross back and ask some more questions.

I asked the woman what would happen if they decided not to cover it. Would the money I paid even go towards the deductible or would it just "disappear?" She said it would not go towards the deductible, but then asked, "But why wouldn't they cover it?"

"Well I don't know. It's just that I didn't know that you guys were primary until we had been in the hospital for several days and so I didn't get it authorized and I just don't know what to do." My voice was quavering and before I could stop it, I was crying.


"Oh honey, you are just frightened, aren't you?" she asked. Her voice was so kind, so sincere. Nothing I expected from an insurance rep. She asked me if I had contacted the preadmission team, which I said I had but hadn't heard anything. She assured me that everything would be okay and proceeded to get some information from me and then put me on hold so she could talk directly with the preadmission team. After a minute or so, she told me she was going to transfer me to them so that they could get details on doctors and hospitals. Before she switched the call she said, "I know you have been through a lot. It's going to be okay. If you need anything, you call me back, okay?"


I was so touched by her kindness. She didn't have to be like that. She could have treated me like some idiot that really botched things up, but she didn't. 


The lady in preadmissions was just as wonderful. She was so kind and understanding. We spoke for a few minutes and then told me she would call me right back as soon as she had contacted Primary's. It was only another 10 minutes or so before my phone rang. She told me she was able to get the information she needed and that she was going to go ahead and give the preauthorization. She told me that I would receive a letter in the mail stating that it had been authorized, but only for one day. She said not to worry though because that authorization would then allow the hospital to send all the doctors and nurses clinical notes and dictations showing the need for x amount of days and that once they had that, she would authorize the rest.


The crushing weight on my chest suddenly lifted. I am so grateful for these two wonderful women and their kindness towards me. It completely changed my view on insurance people. I guess after a while you judge everyone that works for insurance companies as the bad guys. I don't feel that way any more. They could have told me no. They could have pulled out the red tape and said "good luck with that," but they didn't. I have no doubt that things will still be sticky and that I will probably still owe a good chunk of change, but I am so thankful to our merciful Father in Heaven for helping me through this.


I hung up the phone and put my head back on the pillow. Exhausted, but at peace, I fell fast asleep.