Today has been a very long day that has been full of down's with not so many up's. It all started off with a 9am visit to the NICU where everyone knew it was Reid's last day. We had visits from all of the nurses wishing us well and there were plenty of tears shed. The Cobb Hospital NICU has been our home for the past 3 months and we have developed a secondary family there so it was tough to leave.

The entire team was trying their best to prepare us for what was going to take place: Kristen and I both like to know what we are getting into before it happens so that there aren't too many surprises. The first thing they tried preparing us for was the chance that Reid may have to be placed on a ventilator to be transported. The reason I bring this up is that there is a funny story behind it... Shelly, a respiratory therapist that has bonded well with Kristen and Reid over the past few months went up to Dr. Metcalf to tell him that if Reid had to be intubated that she was the one that had to do it because "he is my baby". Dr. Metcalf looked at her, paused, and said, "No, Reid is OUR baby." Long story short, he didn't have to be intubated for transport, but it just goes to show the care and support that we have there. It is our hospital family and they look out for us just as the rest of our "real" family does.

The transport team showed up around 11am and took about 30 minutes to prep him and get him onto a mobile support cart where he had all of the same bells and whistles that he has at the hospital. He was taken away by a team of 4 people: two respiratory therapists, a nurse practitioner and EMT driver to the truck and they headed onto the highway for a 30-40 minute drive to downtown Atlanta. We followed suit and headed that way and when we arrived they had just finished putting Reid into his new home.

We were able to visit with him only momentarily as the nurses and doctors had to assess him, hook him back up to the CPAP, and get a new arterial line put in. Afterwards, we were able to visit with Reid's nurse and the doctor that was on call for the weekend (not Reid's doctor that we will be dealing with while he is a Egleston). To be quite honest, we didn't care for the doctor right away because she would barely look at us in our eyes. She stared at my chest the entire time she talked to me. Nonetheless, she proceeded to paint a grimmer picture than what we had been used to and was quick to point out that not all babies with Reid's condition "make it". The frustrating thing, after the initial shell-shock wore off, was that I don't think she was well-versed on Reid's condition and was probably stating this from a pure numbers perspective. As background information, if you look at Reid's stats from a clinical standpoint, Reid should be worse off than he is. However, his body (heart, kidneys, etc) has compensated for his high CO2 readings and he makes it work. So... longer story short, this was probably something that should have probably not been said within the first 2 minute of her talking to us --- especially since she was not going to be our doctor.

We had to leave again for about an hour after this conversation (more poking and prodding to be done) and when we came back (a little more composed this time), our nurse sat down with us and chatted with us. The first thing that came out of her mouth was an apology as to how the doctor handled the situation. And this was followed by 3 hours of a very nice visit with Reid with a very caring nurse that was there to comfort us. We left about 7pm and headed home to cook dinner.

Tomorrow promises to bring more up's and down's as we will learn what is to unfold over the next few days. At 6am tomorrow morning, Reid will have his last feeding as he starts his preparation for a possible surgery. In the morning (time unknown), he will have an ECHO and brain/head scan done. At noon, he will have a visit with the eye specialist to see if laser surgery is needed. Assuming it is needed (which it very well may not be), he will be put on a ventilator and sedated and will have the surgery at some point tomorrow afternoon/evening. Kristen and I are preparing for him to be sedated earlier on in the day as he is going to quickly lose his composure without food; he can barely go 3 hours without it. Nonetheless, I imagine before a possible eye surgery that we will have met with the cardiologist (to look at the Pulmonary Hypertension - PPHN) to determine if he is fit to even have surgery. The PPHN has an adverse effect on the right side of the heart and they want to make sure that Reid can not only handle surgery, but that there is nothing wrong with his heart itself. Assuming this works out, I would imagine that they will coordinate with the surgeon that will perform the hernia surgery. I am sure that I have missed out on a few things, but my point is still the same: Reid has one busy day tomorrow.

And before I sign off for the night, there is one bit of good news that is going to come out of this visit to Egleston: there are no restrictions on who can come visit Reid. Well, some restrictions: 1) must be over 18; 2) must be accompanied by either Kristen or myself; 3) only two people at bedside at a time. After 102 days, my sisters will finally be able to see Mr. Reid and are planning on a morning visit tomorrow. Woo hoo!!

Well, it is getting late and I have rambled on too long. I will pick this entry up again tomorrow afternoon when we know more. Keep your prayers coming.