We are Home at Last

We are finally home but let me backtrack a little to so-long-ago Friday. We got special arrangements to leave at 5am. Lee, the discharge person, told us that she was going to have to get the night shift on board because they have never done a discharge ever. My dad and I stayed up quite late with my mom, going to the store for food and packing up our own things. Brent was told to set his alarm for 3:30am and wake us up. My dad woke up at 4am wondering what time it was. Brent never woke up! We were running around like crazy trying to get out of the door. We were all out in record time and on our way to the hospital. The rest of my mom's stuff was packed by the time my dad and I got there and we were ready to move. I got a crash coarse of medications that needed issued and at what time and we got the rest of the paperwork and headed out the door.

My mom got into the van just like we practiced. It was perfect. She did such a great job. It was sooo cold that morning and she still did great. The nurse told us that all Friday monring my mom was awake humming songs to herself to pass the time. She was watching the clock until we arrived. I found that quite funny. Thankfully for the drive, it made her quite tired so she slept until we reached Reno. The drive again was beautiful. The sky was bright blue and the roads were clear. It was just perfect. In Reno, we stopped for a potty break and breakfast. We were there for quite a bit of time by the time all of that was taken care of. We headed back on the road and mom took naps on and off. Going from Reno to Winnemucca was perfect. The wind was not roaring across the roads pushing the van to and fro. Thank goodness. Stopping every little bit for van potty breaks were quite interesting. Trying to do the same thing with my mom that we did in a hospital room and then trying it in a small space was pretty challenging but we did it. My dad drove most of the time and I was to go to person. I was mainly in charge of making sure that my mom was taken care of and comfortable. It really wasn't that hard. We were pretty determined to get home asap so breakfast was the last food stop. My mom was well into sleep during lunch and our last place to stop if she wasn't that we forged on. We just snacked along the way. It worked. We reached the last final stretch of our trip and saw these crazy, low, black clouds in the distance. They were crazy. The sky above it was bright blue. Just weird. We entered into the fog that I had been watching online before our trip out. It actually wasn't too bad at all. We were so excited to finally arrive in the Treasure Valley. The drive from Caldwell to Boise seemed to take forever. We found ourselves in front of Elks at last around 6pm. The staff were so wonderful. Right outside of Winnemucca, we got a phone call from them asking where we were so that they could be prepared when we arrived. We called them when we were 30 minutes out so they could be ready. I had to laugh at my dad because we rounded the corner to see the facility for the first time and my dad said that he already liked it before going in. They were great. Three staff members, one of them being the charge nurse, were ready to get my mom inside and settled. They were great. Immediately they started getting her admitted. They got her some food and it actually looked really good. Heidi, Mindy and Gunnar showed up shortly after. Gunnar and mom were so excited to see each other. Gunnar was so gentle with her and gave her lots of love. He has a way of making her laugh. It was great to have her home and situated. My dad and I were helping her to the bathroom and my mom broke down. She started crying. It is overwhelming. She just traveled 10 hours with limited mobility, she is in a new place with new people, new rules, tired, hungry. She had a right to feel that way. It made me so sad but we assured her that she would be okay, that she was in a great place. We finally got her all settle and left for the night. We were all so exhausted.