Discharge Day finally came. Our last remaining and seemingly unattainable hurdle has now been conquered. Zachary has left the building.
The transport people had loaded Zachary into the ambulance and were prepared to leave The Children's Home. Normally on ambulance trips such as this, I resume a role as "Traveling Dad" and sit next to Zachary on a bench seat of sorts. However, this time there were a tad too many people in the back of the ambulance for me to sit next to my son. So this time I got to ride shotgun.
Wow! Riding in the passenger seat in an ambulance seems like such a cool thing to do. There was the CB radio, the lights, the siren... all kinds of fun things to play with. I was feeling like a little kid in a candy store. This was gonna be such a fun ride out to the regional county airport. A mighty convey of one. Breaker breaker good buddy. If only the ride wasn't so short.
However, reality soon entered the picture. The radio was off limits. There were no lights or siren to be used. To make matters worse, the driver of the vehicle, a man who apparently hasn't seen another human being for years, began to ramble on about the evolution of the ambulance. Let me add that it was a long ramble. It looks like I was a captive audience to a driver who sole job wasn't just to drive from Point A to Point B but also to educate me on this illustrious history lesson. If only the ride wasn't so long.
Fortunately the past two years of sitting next to Zachary's crib has heightened my ability to tune out the bells and buzzers associated with his various monitors. I adapted this newly developed skill to tune out the nonstop chatter from Mr. Historychannel and focused on the days ahead with my soon to be reunited family. If that didn't work then I would resort to Plan B. This would entail raiding Zachary's accompanying medicine box and consuming as many of his sedation drugs for my own personal use.
Fortunately we arrived at the airport before the raiding commenced.
Pulling up into an airport venue via an ambulance gives one a sense of power. With great power come great bragging rights as we proceeded to bypass the usual entrances and pulled right up beside our plane. It was like we got to Pass Go and collect our $200 without security screening. It didn't take long before I realized that driving up in an ambulance when taking a trip on American Airlines was certainly the way to go. Of course, owning your very own private plane has some merit too.
The flight to BWI went off without a hitch. There was little to no turbulence and I got a window and aisle seat at the same time (a small plane has its advantages). Add to this perk the fact that there were plenty of snacks on board and no one had to tell me to put my seat in the up-right position before landing. Yes, I really have to get my very own plane... all for Zachary's benefit of course.
The final leg of the trip involved a 30 minute ambulance ride to our final destination. Coming home was a great ending to such a long journey. Many months away from home make one appreciate squeaky hardwood floor, sticky doors and occasional low water pressure. But when your family is finally under one roof who really cares about the flaws of the house.
I just have to enlarge the driveway for my new plane.
To be continued...
Brian and Deanna