We got the word at breakfast that we were moving over to Shirley Ryan at noon! The EMTs came and strapped Annie and Michael the Koala onto the stretcher.
Annie was not a big fan of the sirens in the ambulance bay, but now she can say that she rode in an ambulance for 20 minutes. (Yes, because of traffic and one-way streets, it took us twice as long to ride over as if we had just walked.)
The room is smaller than our hospital room at Lurie, with no recliner, but at least I have a desk. We’d hoped for more space and maybe a bigger bed, but the nursing staff said apologetically that the parent sleeping arrangements here are actually pretty dire. Many parents bring in an air mattress or share the bed with their child. (This would have been helpful information one of the ten or so times I spoke with someone from here in the months leading up to this stay…) Look at the size of the bench and loveseat, with my laptop for reference… I’m asking about a Ronald McDonald House option as soon as Annie is sleeping through the night again and doesn’t need me to carry her to the potty between 8 pm and 6 am. (She could call the nurses, but our experience at Lurie was that they didn’t respond quick enough when she felt the urge to go, so I just took her to the potty myself.)
Today is just for settling in and getting all the intake paperwork done, then we’ll start therapy tomorrow!
Annie and Michael! ❤️ glad you all moved over to Shirley, but hope you can get your sleeping arrangements to be better!
Give Annie my best!