She's the man!!

What a roller coaster day! Chris compares his job hunt to a roller coaster- you get your hopes built up and then then something happens and down you go! Andie had that kind of day.
Started out with her being all chipper while we met her at the ENT's office to check out her trach tube ... and from what we understood, have it removed if everything was fine... So we got to the "ghetto" as Andie later called it - it was a strange, maybe I should say interesting ... location - in a former train station on the south side of Bethlehem. After intake procedures and just general hurry - up - and - wait to get to the doc he informs us that since the initial tracheotomy was done elsewhere she should return there to have the tube taken out. Whaaat???? He was talking about the procedure being done in an "acute care" facility in case there were complications and so she could be monitored for 24-48 hours. My idea to persuade him that she'd be properly cared for was that she could go back on the one -to -one care immediately after we returned to Good Shepherd to cover any emergency situations. He was insistant that she should be admitted to a hospital... and Andie got less talkative as she realized that she was not going to have it done there. The respiratory therapist that accompanied her to the appointment was a great companion for this - interesting guy - a former EMT, former deputy coroner (after asking about that experience let me tell you -- always -- always wear your seat belts, people!!) and a body guard on top of that he's a got black belt... but as entertaining as he was it still didn't take away the disappointment that Andie felt. I could see that she was stunned and so was I but being strong for her meant looking forward to doing things the right way and making sure every step was covered so there'd be no setbacks. I was working my brain to try to figure out how to get around it but this guy was willing to do a visual scan of her vocal chords to be sure that there were no issues there and that's a crucial step to getting the tube out, so okay get that done and see if he'll proceed.
They squirted topical spray up her nose and in her throat and we waited to have it take effect while they saw another patient.
One of the therapists just today asked what I'm writing when I carry around my little notebook - mostly I have it cause this all seems like a dream and some day we can all - including Andie sit back and read it. Well, today when the doc asked about the trach tube I was able to put the notes to use as I went back and gave him every bit of info he asked for. Plus I write down the day to day ups and downs and then I use them to remind me of things to put here in the blog.

So... bottom line from this appointment was that Andie was disappointed - not devastated that the tube wasn't out... she was quiet and asked that people NOT come to visit later on and I asked if I should be there for her speech therapy and she said something like "if she wants to" so... I went.
Then the report from the ENT got to Good Shepherd and the team of people treating her met. After we went into Recreational Therapy in a not so up-beat mood... and then she had to go into Speech Therapy while still feeling like the anesthetic was working on her mouth...

Just as we got back to the 4th floor brain trauma unit the nurse practitioner, Jamie (a woman) who has been working alongside the physician met us and broke the news that since things look good and since they have the ability to handle emergency situations she will have the trach tube and the feeding tube removed tomorrow morning!! At that point Andie was like --- Whaa?? Whaattt? .. she then told her that that she loves her and after we got the details about how tomorrow's going to go and then as we were going to hang out in the dining area Andie was going: " She's the man! - she's the man" While Jamie's going " I might have to go check about that!".