Return to Houston

9:00 AM Packed up and left for Houston. It was Eric's one-month follow-up visit day.

9:15 Stopped at Dino’s Donuts. No trip west on I-10 is complete without donuts from Dino’s for the road.

12:00 PM Arrived at Texas Children’s Clinical Care Center. Went straight to Pulmonary Medicine.

12:05 Sent to radiology for a chest X-ray.

12:10 Sent back to pulmonology without x-ray. No order was written yet.

12:15 Back in pulmonary, but the doctor won’t be there till 1:00. So we went to the food court for lunch.

1:00 Back in pulmonology.

1:30 A nurse came in and typed info into computer.

1:45 Finally saw Dr. Sockrider.

2:00 Went to ENT (ear, nose, throat).

2:30 Saw a resident, who changed Eric’s trach to a size smaller uncuffed tube with a “button.” Which means the trach will be plugged during the day and he’ll breath normally through his mouth or nose, to see how he tolerates normal breathing, and we’ll unplug it at night. This is the first step in getting his trach out altogether. So the plan is to do this for a week, and if he tolerates it, we’ll go see Dr. Thompson here in Lake Charles and he’ll take the trach out in his office. One more week.

3:10 Off to x-ray waiting room again.

3:20 Got x-ray taken.

3:35 Returned to pulmonology to await x-ray report.

4:10 Dr. Sockrider came in and looked at the x-ray with us. It’s better in many ways. Somewhat clearer, less consolidation, better aeration, and the blebs (large air pockets) appear to be significantly smaller in only one month. All good news.

4:45 Left pulmonology and went to physical rehabilitation to visit socially with Becky and Julie (Eric’s OT/PT gals) Julie was in Guatamala, but it was fun to see Becky and her sidekick OT-in-training Jessica.

6:00 Met my sister-in-law Cathy and brother-in-law Steve, and Lacy and Darlene Sellars for dinner. Eric chose to eat at Luby’s. He’d heard us talk about Luby’s when he was in the hospital, but had never eaten there himself and wanted to try it.

7:10 On the road home.