Saturday, August 12, 2006

Temporary Becomes Permanent

Abby and I made a command decision today that has been coming for a long time- we are going to sell our house in Connecticut and move to the Boston area.

Ellie is going to need care for a long time as an inpatient and then as an outpatient. Boston is a long way from Connecticut when we need to see her doctors. I think that the line infection has shown us that it takes above average doctors to pick this up and recognize it for what it is. We need a great hospital and Children's can't be beat.

We have incredibly supportive family near Boston and more to the north that will be a lot closer if we are in Boston. Having this support has kept us going when things started to suck and we may need to call upon them in the future more than we do now.

Finally, after more than a month of searching for in-home nurses in our area of Connecticut, the hospital hasn't been able to find a single nurse in our area to provide even a portion of the care that Ellie will need when we go home. Repeat: when we go home. We are good with her medical procedures, but Ellie will need real nurses for a lot of her care. Boston has many, many more resources to get her what she needs which will make her care much smoother.

This was a tough decision for us for a lot of reasons- Abby had to resign from her great job at the aquarium after five years of advancing through at a speed that nobody could believe. We also have great friends in the area who have been amazing since Ellie was born and we will miss them all very much. Finally, we love our house in Connecticut and have spent a lot of time and sweat in the past few years making it ours, including painting our bedroom walls LA Laker Purple, which is asurprisingly soothing color for a bedroom, believe it or not.

We also painted the cutest nursery that Ellie won't ever sleep in. That must have been the beginning of the jinx.

This leaves a lot of things up in the air. The Boston area is very expensive. We may not be able to afford a house in the area or may have to buy one that is a lot different than our cute little house . Living in an apartment may be on the horizon for us as well. We will have to see what happens.

We are going where we need to be for Ellie.

I guess that we are very lucky that she doesn't need to be in Pittsburg.

Yet.

We want to get our house on the market when things are still green and the gardens are still in bloom. We are heading to Connecticut this coming weekend and then again on the 23rd and 24th to do the work that we need to do to get it ready to go on the market. Weeding, planting flowers, cleaning, repainting the purple walls........

If anyone has some time those days and wants to sweat a little, we'll buy the beer.

It is a very cute house if you know anyone in SE Connecticut who wants to buy a house.

2 comments:

Stephany said...

Abby & Gib... I don't even know where to begin. I can't imagine how hard this decision had to be for you to make, but you have your child's best interest and heart and that love shows through. Abby I know you will be sorely missed at MAIFE, but you have everyone's love and support behind you! You three will do just wonderful up in Bean Town - close to great hospitals, great parks to take Ellie on walks, and most importantly, family when you need it.

I'm praying and keeping you in my thoughts for a speedy sale of the house and speedy find of an apartment or home nearby where you three can place roots and call home.

Stephany

kate said...

Let's hear it for "When we go home." What a concept! No matter where that home may be, it's going to be a damn good day. There will be much rejoicing throughout the land.

Sign me up for the "Sell This House" work crew, and for the "fix up a wicked cute nursery in the new house" crew. Something tells me there might be some pink involved in the new nursery...