Hurry Up and Stay Put. No Really, Go Home!

11:00 a.m.
Almost! Jana called earlier this morning to inform me that Bridger will be discharged this afternoon- that I need to hurry and get the kids ready to drive into town to pick up her and Bridger. Then she called back. Bridger's been battling diarrhea and the staff is concerned that he may be getting dehydrated. So, they want him to stay overnight. Bummer.

I'm sure it's good for Bridger, but it's always hard to have your hopes raised and then dashed a moment later. It's all good. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, afterall.

1:45 p.m.
"Okay, really, he can go home." Seriously? I'm not going to get in the car only to have them change their minds again? Jana just called to inform me that he's fine, that the diarrhea has already cleared up, that he can go home! Here's the crazy part. I was the one who informed Jana, and she in turn the staff, that the likely reason he had diarrhea was because they gave him glycerin before leaving the PICU yesterday. A dose of glycerin is standard protocol with most kids who have had lots of pain medication while intubated, since those meds tend to cause constipation. Yet, in my mind I was wondering why they even gave him glycerin, since he had already shown his bowels were in tip-top shape prior to the glycerin. So it seems clear that several people on the cardiac floor didn't read his chart to see that he had been given glycerin before going up. And, as you saw in the earlier update, they were planning to keep him another day because of it. Does this make any sense?

To summarize: They gave Bridger glycerin for constipation he didn't have. They (cardiac unit) were going to keep him for diarrhea that they (PICU) caused. Now, they're letting him go because we reminded them of the former. Honestly, don't you think they would have figured out this chart thing by now? ;-)

I've got to jet to the hospital, before they change their minds!

4:00 p.m.
Bridger's home!