They released him Monday afternoon. It's been a blessing to be home. We've had the normal up's and down's. Trying to figure out the sleeping, pain med's, trying not to over do it but dealing with when he doesn't feel okay.
He walked around the block yesterday. He didn't feel like a big walker today but I made him walk with me a bit at Smith's and Walmart since the weather was awful.
We figured out some of the med's cause a lot of nausea so we're playing with times and making sure he eats something.
Overall, it's amazing to see what a week brings...
Thank you for the love, prayers, cards, emails, phone calls, thoughtful gifts, dinners, yummy treats and well wishes. We're so grateful for such great friends, family and people we love.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Incision
Here's a picture of Christian's incision. They didn't stitch it up. They used what's called Durabond. It's basically super glue. Pretty amazing looking.
The procedure of cutting and closing was basically as follows.
They did a controlled break but using a sharp tool knife that cuts through the sternal bone in a downward motion like cutting butter. They spread open the ribs, perform surgery on the heart, put small holes up and down each side of the sternal column around the break and wire it back together, then glued him closed. Within the next week it should be completely sealed up.
It still has a dressing/big bandaid on it and he's sick of it...it's also itchy.
The procedure of cutting and closing was basically as follows.
They did a controlled break but using a sharp tool knife that cuts through the sternal bone in a downward motion like cutting butter. They spread open the ribs, perform surgery on the heart, put small holes up and down each side of the sternal column around the break and wire it back together, then glued him closed. Within the next week it should be completely sealed up.
It still has a dressing/big bandaid on it and he's sick of it...it's also itchy.
Christian's still making significant progress. They switched switched him from Oxycodone (the hard stuff) to Lortab today. I'm all in favor for lowering the dosage and stretching the dose...I just hope it's a enough to keep him out of pain. He's up playing Playstation today--he's had a harder time doing that because he couldn't concentrate with all of the heavy narcotics.
He's pretty smiley and self sufficient. He's getting around great. His x-ray came back that the lower lobes of his lungs are clear, which they were getting pretty cloudy/milky looking yesterday, so he walked a lot, sat up in the chair and coughed--which as you can imagine does hurt a lot. He loves the rocking chair. His feet are puffy and achy from the day's of IV
I didn't expect him home Monday ;) -it's been an amazing experience watching him progress. He pulled open the door to his room earlier today--it's a latch and it's not easy for me all of the time. He opened a bottle of water on his own...all those muscles are hurting and sore and he just pushes through and doesn't let anything hold him back. I had to tell him to slow down when we went walking tonight. I had a hard time keeping up with him he was walking so fast.
He's pretty smiley and self sufficient. He's getting around great. His x-ray came back that the lower lobes of his lungs are clear, which they were getting pretty cloudy/milky looking yesterday, so he walked a lot, sat up in the chair and coughed--which as you can imagine does hurt a lot. He loves the rocking chair. His feet are puffy and achy from the day's of IV
I didn't expect him home Monday ;) -it's been an amazing experience watching him progress. He pulled open the door to his room earlier today--it's a latch and it's not easy for me all of the time. He opened a bottle of water on his own...all those muscles are hurting and sore and he just pushes through and doesn't let anything hold him back. I had to tell him to slow down when we went walking tonight. I had a hard time keeping up with him he was walking so fast.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
3rd Day- Saturday
Today has been a better day. Last evening and night was a little rough. We think we finally have the pain under control today. The itching, however, is out of control. He's constantly scratching due to being sensitive to the pain med's. He was scratching his back with a comb because he couldn't reach where it itches. ;) But, life is trade-offs and we'll take the pain relief for the itching.
He's usually so sweet and considerate when he's not in pain. He fights sleeping though. I have to tell him that I'm really tired and need a nap. Then he'll sweetly say he'll try and sleep so I can sleep. It's a bit of a rouse but otherwise he Will Not sleep.
He's up and getting around well. He looked out the window facing the south end of the valley and said "I'm
ready to go home Mom." It was so sweet.
Nobody has mentioned discharge yet. I think they have all wanted to make sure his pain is under control and he's more coherent. He's enjoyed having some visitors and it gave a good distraction.
Thank you for all of the prayers, kindness, concern and service. We couldn't do this without all of the support we've been given.
He's usually so sweet and considerate when he's not in pain. He fights sleeping though. I have to tell him that I'm really tired and need a nap. Then he'll sweetly say he'll try and sleep so I can sleep. It's a bit of a rouse but otherwise he Will Not sleep.
He's up and getting around well. He looked out the window facing the south end of the valley and said "I'm
ready to go home Mom." It was so sweet.
Nobody has mentioned discharge yet. I think they have all wanted to make sure his pain is under control and he's more coherent. He's enjoyed having some visitors and it gave a good distraction.
Thank you for all of the prayers, kindness, concern and service. We couldn't do this without all of the support we've been given.
2nd Day
Friday-
*They pulled the 2 tubes draining from his incision.
*They weaned him off of the morphine PCA (patient controlled analgesia) pump. He had been able to push a button that gave him pain relief every 10-15 minutes or so.
*They started giving him med's orally. This is good and bad. Good because it's a significant step ahead but bad because oral med's take longer to start working although they give longer lasting duration of relief.
*They took out the Jugular IV in his neck.
*They took out the arterial IV in his wrist.
*They weaned him off the blood pressure medicine.
*They wanted him sitting upright in a chair instead of staying in bed the whole time.
*Weaned down the oxygen.
*They pulled the 2 tubes draining from his incision.
*They weaned him off of the morphine PCA (patient controlled analgesia) pump. He had been able to push a button that gave him pain relief every 10-15 minutes or so.
*They started giving him med's orally. This is good and bad. Good because it's a significant step ahead but bad because oral med's take longer to start working although they give longer lasting duration of relief.
*They took out the Jugular IV in his neck.
*They took out the arterial IV in his wrist.
*They weaned him off the blood pressure medicine.
*They wanted him sitting upright in a chair instead of staying in bed the whole time.
*Weaned down the oxygen.
8 Hours Post Surgery
If you look close you can see:
2 tubes draining fluid off from his heart at the bottom of the incision.
The big band aid is obviously the incision area and that is what they call a dressing. The tubes are a little bigger than 1/2 inch and were sutured in. When they pulled them out they had to knot the sutures and pull on the wound...that hurt him a lot. The tubes were in about 5 inches and hurt quite a bit to pull out.
In the picture you can see he has a Jugular IV in his neck that when it was pulled out was about 6 inches long that was fed by 2 IV. This was giving many blood pressure medications.
He has an arterial line in his right wrist that was about 3 inches long when pulled out.
He has 3 other IV's and marks from 3 IV in his wrist.
He has 3 heart monitors. Those are just sticky pad on his skin that are connected to monitors-they don't hurt.
There are 2 lines directly into his heart that are blue wires. They said to be careful not to touch those because they have electricty and will shock him. Those really bug him because they are loose outside his body. They will pull those in the next day or two.
2 tubes draining fluid off from his heart at the bottom of the incision.
The big band aid is obviously the incision area and that is what they call a dressing. The tubes are a little bigger than 1/2 inch and were sutured in. When they pulled them out they had to knot the sutures and pull on the wound...that hurt him a lot. The tubes were in about 5 inches and hurt quite a bit to pull out.
In the picture you can see he has a Jugular IV in his neck that when it was pulled out was about 6 inches long that was fed by 2 IV. This was giving many blood pressure medications.
He has an arterial line in his right wrist that was about 3 inches long when pulled out.
He has 3 other IV's and marks from 3 IV in his wrist.
He has 3 heart monitors. Those are just sticky pad on his skin that are connected to monitors-they don't hurt.
There are 2 lines directly into his heart that are blue wires. They said to be careful not to touch those because they have electricty and will shock him. Those really bug him because they are loose outside his body. They will pull those in the next day or two.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
