Emmett will be staying in his room, dubbed Emmett's Place, at BC Childrens' Hospital until mid-week. It will probably be Thursday before he is able to return home. On Tuesday his Nasal-Gastric tube will be replaced with a Gastric tube. This is a surgical procedure and he will spend at least Tuesday night in ICU. There was a small chance that he could have come home for the labour day weekend, and obviously Alisha and Josh wanted to bring Emmett home. They were a bit concerned that they hadn't received results from the sleep study yet, but were confident in their ability to feed Emmett with their newly acquired skills of using the Kangaroo feeding pump and the N-G tube. But it was Friday late afternoon and the hospital didn't have the right feeding pump for the current N-G tube so they couldn't leave. Emmett cannot be fed without that pump. To top it off, last night after his grandparents all left Emmett managed to grasp the N-G tube and remove it from his nostril. Alisha is pretty sure he realized that once he started, this was not something he should have done, but since he is a task oriented little boy he finished the job! 

The N-G tube was easily replaced - well, if you were Emmett or Alisha or Josh it wasn't easy. Don't try this at home, but imagine sticking a flexible tube up (or is it down?) your nostril into your stomach. Emmett would say it sucks! And he is an expert on sucking! From this point on Emmett will not be taking any nourishment by mouth. We knew this would happen but really thought it would still be months - at least weeks - away.

Emmett's Place was very crowded last night as Roger, Rhonda, Pam, and I joined the room. Of course, every now and then a nurse entered the room. Earlier in the day a herd of doctors (is herd the proper term? I understand it was a whole bunch so herd it is) crowded in to observe Emmett, make diagnosis, and probably to learn about Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Type 1. This is a teaching hospital.

Alisha and Josh went for a long walk around the hospital's neighbourhood while the grandparents stayed with Emmett. This was after a meal of hearty, Mennonite soup and bread. Thanks Aunt June - delicious. Obviously, Alisha and Josh aren't eating properly. Aren't sleeping properly. And apart from the hospital to hospital transfer, Alisha hasn't been outside of the hospital since this crisis began. Josh, probably only to feed the parking meter. So a lovely walk through the local neighbourhood was good for them.