Training has begun...

So, I survived sleeping at the hospital last night. I was up at 12:30, 2:30, 3:30-5:00, 6:00, and then got woken up at 8:00am to start my training. They showed me how to take respiration and heartrate and went over the nebulizer meds she is on and taught me how to give her meds to her. After that she was fed another bottle with blue dye to see if it is going down her trach or not and so far it is not. So, then it was time for her bath and then at 2:00pm it was time to do the medications by myself so I could be checked off on them. James then started doing his training that I learned that morning and this evening he will have to be checked off for doing her breathing treatments. After the treatment it was time to do a trach change. We both have to do it 3 times to be checked off. So, I got all the supplies ready to show her how well James and I worked together to do a trach change. Ummm.....no...I had to do it all by myself. What? We were told to always have 2 people but here they teach you to do it on your own in case of an emergency and you are home alone. I do not have enough hands for that but I figured it out and got it done with some kinks in the way though. I took out the old trach, slipped the new one in, got her hooked back up to her vent, and started doing the trach care where you clean her neck and near the stoma (opening) but she was gagging so I asked if she was okay and then we discovered the trach had come out--so I put it back in and continued to try to do trach care with one hand cleaning while the other held the trach in. Anyways, it took me awhile to get the ties tight since I am use to doing it with 2 hands instead of one. So, one change down and two more to go. James is really going to have fun trying to do it since he has never even done the changing of the ties, he just always holds for me. Sometime this week we will start training on the feeding machine and hopefully get trained on the vent by Tuesday. We have a care conference set up on Tuesday at 4:00pm to discuss what we have accomplished already, what we have left to do, status on home equipment and care, and when we can go home. I asked the doctor yesterday if being home for Christmas could happen and he said he knows we could be trained by then by if they can not find us nurses then we can't go home until they do and since our area is so limited and it is during the holidays that it may not happen. So, we need everyone's prayers that we get a Christmas miracle to be home as a family for Christmas. I even asked if he would consider sending us home on just 8 hours of nursing care instead of 24 and he said if he thought it would be safe for Autumn then he might consider it but scared insurance would never give us more than that the 8 hours if that is what we get sent home on. He knows how important it is to us to be there for Christmas so he said he is going to try his best to get us there but there is a good chance it may not happen. All I want is 12 hours to help in the evenings and night and I know we can handle the rest. I can't imagine having someone in my home for 24 hours a day. Yuck! So, anyone who wants to do home healthcare please sign up to be my nurse. Athena--;)--you could work days if I have to have one. Anyways, it is my turn to stay at my brother's to get some real rest and then back for more training in the morning.