Karwoski Life

I can’t believe that June is tomorrow! The time is flying by! (I can only hope that the rest of the summer goes so fast with Matt in Omaha!!) Right now, we are preparing for a busy weekend, and then of course, a flurry of activity as we travel to Iowa City and then on to Omaha. My parents are flying in this weekend for a visit and we are so excited to see them. We haven’t seen my Dad since little Matthew was born back in February! I am looking forward to having him here, and I know Matt is looking forward to hanging out and talking cars with him and my brother in law Chad. The three of them are quite the chatty ones when they get together. It seems like Matt is really starting to open up these days, and I’m excited for Dad to see it. My Mom is going to stay on the rest of the week and travel to Iowa City to be there during Matt’s embolization procedure, then stay at our house to watch the dogs. I’m really grateful she’s staying on to be there with us. Matt’s parents will also

FINALLY…NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Matt is approved to go to QLI Omaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally got all the details worked out with insurance and QLI yesterday. Matt will be able to go there for 98 days, under my benefit. We are so excited, and so nervous…it just opens up all kinds of questions and worries…mostly just of the unknown. We discussed possible admit dates and finally agreed that it made more sense to wait until after his embolization procedure in June. So, we will be coming home from IA City on the 10th, and heading to Omaha on the 12th! We were talking last night…and 98 days would take him past his birthday (September 9th) and he wants to be home for that…so even though it’s far out there, we’re thinking he’ll come home on September 8th. That’s what we’re HOPING for, anyway! We’re happy we can wait a few more weeks, until after the procedure, to get going. That’ll give us time to get organized, figure out what we need to bring, and prepar

Well, I heard from QLI Omaha last night. They have a person on staff who is very ‘skilled’ at working through the admissions process with insurance companies and is known for ‘making things happen’. He is out of the office this week, but will be back on Monday and armed with all of Matt’s information, he will be calling my insurance contact. Apparently, IF Matt is approved, the rest of the admissions process can move very quickly. They told me that they have someone discharging this week in a house they believe would fit Matt very well. IF all is a go with the insurance…he could be going there as soon as next week! It really threw us for a loop…we didn’t expect it to be this soon. We have a few trips planned etc…but obviously this has to be the priority. If Matt can go, he needs to go as soon as possible. If that happens, we won’t be able to make the family reunion/wedding reception in Chicago Memorial Weekend…and we may not be able to make our trip to Texas to see my parents

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we have Matt’s embolization procedure on the calendar. It will be on Thursday, June 8th. We will travel out the afternoon of the 7th for a battery of pre-admission tests and physical. We plan to just spend the night there in IA City that night and be at the hospital bright and early for his procedure the next morning. I will be staying in town with Matt, as he will have to be hospitalized for 2 nights afterwards. We are both excited to finally have this scheduled, so we can get on with the next steps…but the reality of the procedure is starting to hit me a little more now. I have confidence that Matt will come through just fine…but it is still very serious and he (as well as the doctors) will need lots of prayers that day. It is our hope that the procedure will be safe and successful…that the AVF will be fully embolized and no longer present a threat of rebleed, and Matt will not lose any functionality. Please be thinking of us all

Well, today we met with a neuro-psychologist from QLI Omaha. He came out first thing this morning to talk to Matt and I, to get a better idea of how things are going. They wanted to see if Matt looked like a good fit for their rehab program etc. We sat and talked with him for about an hour, just going over what things are like here at home and what goals Matt has for his long term rehab. Obviously we want to maximize his rehab and get as much back as he can. The doctor from QLI thought Matt would be a great candidate. He could see how motivated Matt is, how bright he is, and ready to take on challenges. He explained how their program would work a little bit more, which helped us try and get an idea of what his days would be like. They have the residents living in separate houses on the campus, each with their own bedroom. Each house is staffed with people to help with the day to day tasks. But I get the idea that the residents do as much as they can for themselves in each hous