There isn't really any new news today so I thought I'd talk about our day-to-day life and cleaning her room and things. I used think it wasn't very much fun doing housework, I thought it was too much...the more times you did it, the more times you had to do it again. It wasn't as though our place was a mess, or that I hated cleaning for that matter. It was that it just wasn't my favourite thing to do and it always seemed as though there was so much laundry, dishes, dusting and scrubbing to be done. Now I live in a whole new world. A world where forgetting to clean something could be so dangerous for Katlyn that it could make her seriously ill, or worse.
First off, going into Katlyn's room we have to gown, mask and glove. Anything going into her room has to be completely cleaned with a peroxide-based cleaner. Masks have to be changed every 20 minutes and gloves have to be changed as often as they are dirty. Dirty means anything that is on the floor, may have come in contact with the floor, come into contact with yourself or possibly something dirty. If you're unsure you better clean it anyway. The whole day basically consists of cleaning and more cleaning. Trust me when I say that a one-year-old child just loves to throw her toys on the floor to here them crash....More cleaning.
Bum changes take a lot of practice, changing your gloves an endless amount of times. She has to be cleaned in sterile water, both changes and cleaning. When she plays on the floor she cannot touch the actual floor. She has to play on the mats that you put down for her (cleaned completely each time). And we also have to clean the walls and anything else that she could possibly come into contact with.
KATLYN LIVES IN A BUBBLE.
Her room is her bubble. Only the necessary people are allowed in the room to see our daughter. Anyone displaying or feeling any symptoms of a cold or flu, have to steer clear of Katlyn's corner room. Even a little tickle in your throat can mean staying away from the DeMerchant family. I remember once I had a sore throat and I had to stay away from Katlyn for a week. I didn't go home, of course, but I defiantly couldn't see her.
Al of her food has to be packaged, frozen or boiled. It's insane the amount of work that goes into making Katlyn a piece of toast. We're not allowed to have a toaster in her room because it could cause a fire. Therefore, we have to keep her toast at the nurses station. When we want a piece, we grab it with a glove on of course and put it in a Ziploc bag then head down the hall down to the pantry (and of course the obvious toasting).
We do all of this every single day, day in and day out, trying our best to keep the germs away from our girl. We do it because we love Katlyn so much. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for her. I'd walk to hell and back for her or change places with her in a heartbeat. She's my daughter.
