Room 2018

8:55am

Last night we made another trip to MICU to see some of those who cared for Taylor. We'll probably have to go a few more times to catch everyone. One of those working last night was Pearl. She was one of those with Taylor during the worse times and may have spent as much time comforting us as caring for Taylor. Even though Taylor doesn't remember his time in MICU, we do. And, it was people like Jeannie, Pearl and Stacy that helped save Taylor's life and helped us keep our sanity.

Jeannie, Pearl and Stacey

When Taylor was in MICU, it was in a different location than where it is now, having been moved for remodeling. Each time we've been to see the Nurses since Taylor came home, we've had to walk past the old MICU where Taylor was. Each time, we look through the doors and into the empty hall of the old MICU, remembering the hundreds of times we walked through those doors at all hours of the day and night, 7 days a week for 5 weeks. Seeing those doors always brings back bad memories.

As we left last night, I took a photo through the window of one of the doors of the empty hall. Lauren pulled on the other door and it was unlocked, so we decided to go to Taylor's old room. It was a pretty somber walk down the hall and to Room 2018. Just seeing his room unleashed a lot of emotions in Lauren, Taylor's mother and myself. Before we left, we all had our own good cry. It was in this room that the Nurses sat at his side for 12 hour shifts, doing what they do to save his life. It was here, on March 6th, that we learned that Taylor's condition had gotten very, very critical requiring emergency surgery.

But, there are plenty of good memories in this room too. It was here that we saw Taylor move a finger and celebrated that he understood the directions to do that, then later his legs so we knew he wasn't paralyzed. In this room he smiled for the first time when he saw Frank, his cat. Here, he mouthed the words "I love you" while he was still very, very groggy.

Last night Taylor asked where his bed was, and how the room was laid out. We showed him where the throngs of friends stood, and the bathroom across the hall where several friends went to regain their composure after seeing him for the first time.

After a few minutes, we left as quietly as we went in knowing we'd never again want to return there.