Since signing up for The Walk (click the banner above for details and to donate) I have been thinking quite a bit about our time in the PICU. The first post of this blog was written at Liam’s bedside only days before his discharge from Hasbro Children’s. Our stay almost complete, it was the first time that I had written about the PICU even though I had documented nearly every move in the NICU. The PICU was a dark time. Hard to write about it all while it was happening, I have next to nothing by way of notes or impressions of that time. I only brought my camera into the unit once or twice. Nearly all of the photos we have from that time are from our cell phones. As I said – it was a dark time.
But the connections we made there will last a lifetime and the wonderful people at Hasbro Children’s Hospital saved my son’s life. Over and over again. They deserve our praise and the institution itself deserves all of the money that they can possibly raise with this event. I won’t be posting pleas for money anymore though. I am sure that it would quickly be a nuisance and I’m really not that good a salesman. I don’t have the time or resources to help in as many ways as I would like but I do have this blog and a direct knowledge of the good works being done at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
For the next month, leading up to the walk, the blog will feature a series of posts that will offer memories and stories of our time at Hasbro. The run will be under the tag and heading PICU Pressure and will all feature the clickable banner above in the hopes of raising as much money as my little stories can. It’s not much but it is what I can do for now. If you like what you read and keep coming back then please give a few bucks here and there to cause.
Family and friends, if you’ve had any questions about our time in the Unit lay em on me. Now’s the time. I’m not promising that I will be able to answer everything but I’ll give it my best. As I’ve said, the PICU was a dark time. Surprisingly more difficult than our time in the NICU and I don’t take to this project lightly. Not writing notes or a blog during that time was intentional. An attempt to block things out and avoid reliving it every night in front of a computer, but the longer they stay unwritten the fuzzier they get in my head and there are plenty of great moments from in there that are worth remembering.
I have wanted to come up with some kind of direction for this here little space and it looks to me like I’ve finally found one.
For now.
Pressure Support 
While it was so very hard for you it was hard for us being so far away and only imagining what was going on. The uncertainty of the Trach and the what the ramifications of it were very hard to think about. How wonderful that you and Karin made such a difficult decision, without that hard decision I really believe that we would no longer have Liam with us. You both have made so many decisions and choice that 99.9% of the population never have to make. Thank you so much for giving my grandson a chance to survive and thrive. I will forever be grateful to you both. You both are amazing and Liam is even more amazing., So proud to be his “Grammy”