Emily is home! We picked her up on Wednesday, and she started in the "partial" program at Hershey the same day.
Emily was happy to be back in her "normal surroundings" - except that Mom and Dad kind of messed that up by cleaning and rearranging her room while she was gone. (Parent thinking: clean room, fresh start... Emily thinking: invasion of privacy, I liked it the way it was! Ooops.)
With the weekend "off" from any formal treatment, Emily is doing what normal teenagers do: sleeping late, listening to music, and homework. She'll be travelling to New Jersey with the family later today to go to Easter Vigil Mass with Mom-mom, then spending the night and Easter morning with the Pettits, then off to an Easter brunch and egg hunt with the rest of the NJ clan.
This Easter we have much to be thankful for. May you all have a happy and blessed Easter too!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
A milestone
After two weeks of inpatient care, Emily will be discharged from the Belmont Center on Wednesday. It's an understatement to say that she is excited to leave, and her family is excited to have her home!
In addition to missing family and friends, Emily told us she has missed many things that she used to take for granted... her own bed, her own shower, and making her own choices. She's really looking forward to regaining some of the independence she had to give up at Belmont.
As soon as she "checks out of the Hotel Belmont," Emily will become a daily visitor at Hershey Medical Center's "partial hospitalization" program. The Hershey program will allow Emily to sleep at home, attend morning classes at her school, and then spend the afternoon and early evening at the Center. While there, she will continue individual and group therapy, and have lunch and dinner with her new care team.
Emily's road to recovery still stretches out in front of her, but this week is a milestone on her journey. How wonderful that her favorite cherry tree out back is now blooming - welcoming her home!
And so do we.
.
In addition to missing family and friends, Emily told us she has missed many things that she used to take for granted... her own bed, her own shower, and making her own choices. She's really looking forward to regaining some of the independence she had to give up at Belmont.
As soon as she "checks out of the Hotel Belmont," Emily will become a daily visitor at Hershey Medical Center's "partial hospitalization" program. The Hershey program will allow Emily to sleep at home, attend morning classes at her school, and then spend the afternoon and early evening at the Center. While there, she will continue individual and group therapy, and have lunch and dinner with her new care team.
Emily's road to recovery still stretches out in front of her, but this week is a milestone on her journey. How wonderful that her favorite cherry tree out back is now blooming - welcoming her home!
And so do we.
.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Two steps forward...
A tough weekend stretched into an even tougher week. Once Emily decided that she was ready to continue her treatment at home - and her treatment team (and parents) disagreed - she slid into a sad and angry state of mind that made productive therapy very difficult...
To her credit, Emily continued on her meal plan throughout the week, and finally began to show some signs of physical improvement. She's gained a little weight and brought up her pulse rate a bit. She's agreed to "stick it out" through the weekend, and wait for her evaluation on Monday. By then she will have spent two weeks at the Center, on a very small floor, with people she's not very fond of, eating lots of food that she really doesn't like!
Emily has had visitors every day this week (thanks!), and Saturday afternoon Sarah is going to drive herself to spend some quality "sister time" with her little sister. We've had lots of phone calls and notes of encouragement, and we're making sure Emily gets all of your kind thoughts and wishes. We can't thank everyone enough for the encouragement, especially since we're not the only ones going through some rough times right now.
We're looking forward to Easter as a powerful sign of hope and new life, and we continue to pray for God's blessings on our little girl.
To her credit, Emily continued on her meal plan throughout the week, and finally began to show some signs of physical improvement. She's gained a little weight and brought up her pulse rate a bit. She's agreed to "stick it out" through the weekend, and wait for her evaluation on Monday. By then she will have spent two weeks at the Center, on a very small floor, with people she's not very fond of, eating lots of food that she really doesn't like!
Emily has had visitors every day this week (thanks!), and Saturday afternoon Sarah is going to drive herself to spend some quality "sister time" with her little sister. We've had lots of phone calls and notes of encouragement, and we're making sure Emily gets all of your kind thoughts and wishes. We can't thank everyone enough for the encouragement, especially since we're not the only ones going through some rough times right now.
We're looking forward to Easter as a powerful sign of hope and new life, and we continue to pray for God's blessings on our little girl.
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