She's Coming Home

Important skill

Next morning- Gabby POV
I wake up feeling better, I open my eyes and see Antonio.
Gabby- hi
Antonio- hey how are you feeling?
Gabby- better. Tired
Antonio- I bet, glad you're feeling better. You weren't doing well yesterday, they wouldn't let me see you.
He starts crying, he's trying to stop it and hid it from me but not doing well at that
Gabby- I ok come here hug
He comes over and very carefully hugs me
Antonio- I was so scared when Nat called, hearing that you were back in a coma, you almost didn't make it last time.
Gabby- I here I ok
It's taking forever to talk with only 4 buttons on each page.
Gabby- get Lisa
Antonio- sure
A few minutes later Lisa came in
Lisa- hello, you feeling better today?
Gabby- this so slow
Lisa- ok, well you needed it last night, should we switch it back now?
Gabby- yes
Lisa- ok, let's do the targets again to see what you can handle.
I do a bit better than the first time so she gives me more buttons per page than I originally had.
Gabby- thank you and yes feel better today
Lisa- that's great. Do you need anything else?
Gabby- you talk Janet wheelchair head
Lisa- yes I've talked to her. I think we found something that will work, they'll try it today if you're up for it
Gabby- yes
Lisa- while I'm here do you want me to add names to your device so you don't have to keep spelling them out?
Gabby- yes
I tell her all the names and then she takes the device and added them. She also showed me where some other pages are then headed out. I slept some more before being woken up by Nat, April and Maggie.
Nat- hey, Antonio just left to take Shay to speech so we thought it was a good time. We need to do a trach change today but we were wondering how you felt about having your first real shower in a month.
Gabby- yes. How?
Of course I want a shower that isn't just a sponge bath.
Maggie- we have a bath seat we can strap you into
Gabby- ok
They removed my IV and all the monitors, just putting me on the portable pulse ox and then transferred me to a stretcher and brought me to a huge bathroom I didn't know existed and transferred me into the bath seat which was a mesh chair with a bunch of straps and foam blocks to keep my head in place. It wasn't very comfortable but it was a change of position which was nice. They rolled me into the shower and I had my first shower in a month. They had to be really careful not to get my trach wet or the ICP monitor that was still in my head or touch my head where I didn't have any skull but it was amazing. When they finished they blow dried my hair that was starting to grow back, dried my off and put be back on the stretcher then put real clothes on me, not another hospital gown. And by real clothes I mean sweat pants, a sports bra and a t-shirt but it felt amazing to be wearing clothes. The bra and shirt were tricky because my arms are so tight but it worked eventually. They brought me back to my room and put me back in bed, where someone had changed the sheets while I was gone so it was clean too.
Gabby- thank you I feel awesome
Nat- no problem, we girls have to be there for each other! But now it's time for the less fun part, trach change.
Gabby- ok
Nat- it might hurt a bit since it's your first trach change but hopefully it won't.
Gabby- ok
They put gloves on and got everything ready, including a whole new circuit the attach to the vent.
Nat- ok, now we're going to put a roll under your neck so you're in the best position and take the trach ties off. Maggie will hold your trach in until we're ready then she'll take the old trach out and I'll put the new one in while April changes the circuit and then hooks you back up to the vent.
They get me ready, take off the trach ties, and suction
Nat- ready? 3, 2, 1
Maggie's pulls my trach out and I can't breathe until Nat gets the new one in. April goes to reconnect the vent but Nat stops here.
Nat- April wait
They look at my monitor and back at me. Then I realize what's going on, I'm breathing on my own! I start smiling.
Maggie- SATs are a bit low but stable.
Nat- April grab then oxygen and an adapter.
She grabs stuff from a cart they brought for the trach change.
Nat- Gabby I'm just going to hook you up to some oxygen, I think that's all you need.
She attaches to oxygen tubing to an adapter and hooks it up to my trach.
Maggie- SATs are coming up. Dawson's at it again, crushing all the expectations.
They raised my bed so I was kind of sitting and could you my device.
Gabby- I breathing
April- ya you are!
Gabby- FaceTime Antonio
Maggie- you got it
She goes and grabs a tablet from the nurses station.
Gabby- don't show trach, want surprise him
Maggie- ok, you tell me when
She called Antonio and pointed the camera at my device.
A- hey sis, what going on? Miss me already!
G- guess what
A- what?
I look at Maggie and smile and she turns the camera to show my face and neck
G- I breathing myself
A- what? When did that happen? I didn't know they were trying that again?
I looked at Nat and she came over so Antonio could see her too
N- we weren't, we just did a trach change and she was breathing on her own before we reconnected the vent. Just needs some oxygen but she's doing all the work.
A- your amazing Gabby!
G- when Shay finished
A- half an hour then we were going to get lunch but we could just grab food and come eat with you
G- no. I want talk Matt. Bring her when I ask
A- sure, just get someone to text me. You sure your up for that today?
G- yes
A- ok, I'll see you later then
G- bye
Maggie ended the call

Gabby- call Matt now
Maggie- April and I need to get back to the ED, you good with Nat?
Gabby- yes. I come visit later with PT
April- sounds good, bye
April and Maggie left
Nat- ok, I can call Matt for you
Gabby- wait write message
Nat- ok
She waits while I get my message ready then I look at her and she calls him.
Nat- hey Matt, it's Natalie, someone wanted to talk to you, one minute.
She puts him on speakerphone and goes into the hall
M- hello?
G- hi Matt it's Gabby. Can you come to med so we can talk. I want to explain everything.
M- hi Gabby. Um sure, I just have to check with Boden, I'm on shift but I'm sure he'll let me take a few hours off to see you.
G- ok sorry. I want talk yesterday but busy seizures.
M- ya Antonio mentioned you were having a rough time. You sure you're up for this, I can wait a few more days if you need to rest
G- I'm ok
M- alright, see you soon, I'll probably be about 20 minutes.
G- bye. You need hang up Nat left I can't
M- ok, bye
He hung up and I went into settings and turned the volume up on my device, another trick Lisa taught me this morning.
Gabby- Nat I finished. Want phone back
I turned the volume back down as she came back in
Nat- when did you learn to yell on that thing
Gabby- important skill
I grin at her
Nat- whoever taught you that clearly doesn't know Gabby Dawson very well!
We both laugh, well I just keep smiling because I still can't make noise.
We chat for a while then Nat starts setting up my feed when Matt walks in.