Day 20 Home Again…

OK-maybe “Home Again, Home Again, Shuffle, Shuffle” might be more accurate, but the Big Guy is home and we are so happy for it!

Layton came home Tuesday afternoon, 31 days after the accident.  He got all his “tubes” taken out, including the the cute “thing” all the nurses had to see, aka a unique GI insert; he got to practise walking up stairs with the physio, and while we got organized at home, he had a lovely visit with our friend, Janet Longmate, from Grande Prairie.

I actually had an appointmet about a potential contract (YEAH!) so once we got him in the vehicle, Carson and my brother, Wayne, got him home and safely up the stairs.  I was really comfortable with that-the two most qualified with First Aid, Carson being almost big enough to catch Layton if he needed to and my belief that Wayne missed his calling and should have been a nurse.

Layton is loving his big chair, reigning over the family room and just being home.  Night 1, he only woke up once and last night, he decided to forego the Tylenol 3 as the side effects were not worth it and he had a comfortable eight consecutive hours of sleep.  I kept waking up to make sure he was asleep and denied myself the delight of doing the nighttime “maintenance” he has become so accustomed to.  “I need to wake you to give you this pill.”  “The x-ray people will be here at 5:00 am, let’s get you bathed.”  “We need a sample of your blood.”  “Let’s re-do your dressings.”  I preferred to sleep next to my honey.  It is now about 8:30 so he is snoozing again, pretending he is the Lone (note, if you are interested, I had typoed this as “Long”-he has lost so much weight, he looks like he is 6’6″ tall!) Ranger, wearing an eye mask so he can keep sleeping!  How sweet it is!

The hospital didn’t tell us but yesterday we got a call and a visit from a nurse who will come by 2-3 times per week to change dressings and check on him.  We may also have a physio call to get his arm more mobile.  That is nice and much, much better than being in the hospital.  Dorothy, his mom, caught a ride to Kelowna with long-time family friend, Donna Johnson, and they too had a nice visit.

Layton has been trying to type something for the blog but between the emotion and the weak left arm, it is still not quite ready.  Carson has football try-outs for the Okanagan Sun this weekend so we are going to try to get out to see some of that.  Meals are getting made, laundry is being done, I started bootcamp again, tick-tock, tick-tock, we are getting back into our routine.  We had a chat last night about how this event will change our lives…and we are unsure.  We have had no “bolt of lightning” revelations, but on the other hand, I think we can just ease into change with new consciousness, taking note of what is important and what actions we take that will lead us to what is important.

I continue to be so appreciative to have such an essentially unchanged version of Layton in my life.  Someone asked me this weekend how long it took to get to the appreciative part, after processing the injury and all that it implied.  The question so puzzled me because I had gone there instantly.  At least I think I did.  I don’t know if that is the “red” (results-oriented) part of me (“Bottom line is he will be himself again so I don’t even consider how we get there.”) or just the trusting I have developed that every experience brings an opportunity to learn and the learning may not be in the moment, in the thick of it, but it is there.   And I have an innate curiosity as to what the learning will be.

This is Myrna, signing off again…getting my honey a high protein shake so he can re-build his muscle and give Carson and Liam a run for their money in the physique department!