California to Oregon Part 2

After several hours of sorting out all the necessary items for packing up, we began to load up every suitcase, bag and Tupperware available at our fingertips. Once again, Jessica Engelson, our Stanford Angel appeared with snacks, wine and plenty of energy to help in the process. Jessica has been and continues to be our Stanford Saint. All the cars we filled to the roof, but I was able to fit most of it. We donated a few of the larger items to RMH.

On Saturday, January 29th, we began the first leg of the drive. Thank you Google Maps for navigating us through the endless turns and exits to get on I-5. It was all going smoothly until we arrived in Redding, CA. The radio station shut off and a message from the Emergency Broadcast System began rattling off all these warnings and a tornado was in our area! Looking North, I could see this large anvil shaped cloud that was black and green. Lightning and then a massive down pour started. It was difficult see anything and the winds were making the driving very challenging. Cars were pulled all over the place and I looked over in the southbound traffic to see a full size truck completely flipped over! Yeah, serious stuff. I felt very worried for Sarah because she was driving the Nissan Versa. We pulled over at the first rest stop, I looked over at Sarah and you did not even need to say it. We were done driving for the day! We found a hotel, got baby settled, and poured a tall glass of wine.

Sunday was going to be a long one. 450 miles to Portland. The weather was a mix of rain and snow with a dense fog layer ceiling at 1000 ft. When we got to the Siskiyou Pass, we switched the cars so that Sarah could drive the big car with 4WD. No snow or ice on the road, but the fog was dense making the visibility challenging. Once we got over the pass into Ashland, Oregon, I was so relieved! We took a lunch break and kept heading North.

As we drove closer and closer to Portland, Rachel and I tracked hours and minutes until we arrived home! Pulling up to the house was such a good feeling. Lauren Kelly and her family decorated our front door, thanks Lauren! Unlock door and the heat is off. Yeah, bummer. We so overjoyed to be home, it didn't bring our spirits down. All of were exhausted after 9 hours of driving. We got Steele settled in and fell into bed.

I took Monday off from work to get the house in order with the heat and other loose ends that needed attention. There was a feeling of anxiety and excitement about returning to work on Tuesday. When I arrived at school the next morning, students came to greet me and welcome me back. The staff migrated to me classroom and big hugs were shared along with some tears. If felt so good to be back at my teaching post. The entire day was a blur. I had to return to the teaching routine instead of the hospital routine. My job for the last five months has been centered around a vacuum of space called Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. I was hard for me to switch my brain back in the school setting. The students and staff made that very welcoming for me, which help ease the anxiety of it all. I had a fresh set of faces and names to memorize as well as trying to discover where the student were currently in their studies.

Luckily, it was Spirit Week at GHS, so the distraction was nice. By the end of the week, I felt on-top of grades and putting together a plan for getting students back on track. On Friday, there's a huge assembly where each class (Freshman. Sophomores,....) prepare a video and perform a dance routine based on this years theme, Disney. The staff always performs in this activity as well. I was coerced into the back handspring again. All went well, and not did not fail on the handspring!

Ryleigh spent the week with our wonderful and kind daycare friend, Tracy Hymas. Thank you Tracy! Ryleigh just turned 5, she will start Pre-K on Monday. I cannot believe it has been 5 years already. I am going to enroll  her in Gladstone Kindergarten starting in the fall.

Rachel and Sarah have been caring for Steele this past week. Rachel will return to work in the Spring teaching A&P at night. I will tap in and watch both children while she is at work. There will be no need for putting Steele into care. His care is a full time job, so we want to limit his exposure to germs and viruses as minimal as possible. Steele is doing great at home. His vomiting has decreased, we are introducing blended foods, which he seems to like in small portions. It must be a strange tasting food for the first time and using your mouth and throat to swallow. He has really never had whole food or liquids by mouth, so we are working with Speech and PT for those pieces. He will not be able to practice crawling for about another month until his chest wound heals. We are working on his neck, torso and arm strength everyday according to a routine that was prescribed by OT.

All in all, things are very good! Steele will be delayed a bit on a few of his monthly markers, but we have been told that he will be back on track in a few months & hopefully the "tube" can come out all together. A lot of people have been asking about his heart and duration of how his heart will continue to function. There is no definite answer to this. A transplant is always on the table if his function starts to fail. Luckily we have several sets of eyes on him. OHSU will continue their weekly clinic visits for a couple of months, which are then shared with the Heart Failure team at Stanford. If there were any reason for him to need an emergency surgery or anything red flag, Steele will be transferred back to LPCH immediately. LPCH is now going to handle any surgical interventions. transplant, or the third and final surgery called the "Fontan".

Mr.Steele will continue to show us his needs as time moves on. If successful with heart function, it could be 2-3 years before the last surgery. Most patients with his condition can go into the late 30's or 40's before they need a heart transplant. Our hopes are for this option for two reasons: 1) Hearts his size are rare which can take a while to find a donor. Adults have an easier time finding hearts because the donor pool is so large. We'll just have to watch and wait. Our new normal has many moving pieces, Rachel and I are getting the routine dialed in and we are comfortable with all Steele's care, we just haven't slept in months. Mona is back, thanks to Renee and Andy Enna for caring for her for the entire duration of our leave. Sorry to their son, Noah, who became very attached to her. I promise to visit with her once a week Noah!

I want to send special thanks to Sarah Sanchez for everything she has helped with in getting us home safe and sound. She deserves a homecoming parade for all her efforts. Thanks Sarah, we love you!