More of the same. . .

The past few days with Landon have been a little more mellow and it's been nice to see him more comfortable instead of anxious all the time.  He's because much less skeptical of the doctors and nurses and will even willingly get his blood pressure taken if he can hold mommy or daddy's hand.  We've learned a lot of what he will and won't allow and what just makes him more comfortable (ie Gary holding the stethoscope to put it on his chest while the dr listens) and continue to explore the hospital a few times a day to get him out of the room and let him see some of the fun things. 

He had an xray yesterday which looked good and got a "day off" from xray today.  The drainage from his chest tube has not slowed to where we need it to so it looks like they will move forward with Cardiac Cath on Monday.  If it dropped down to where they could remove the chest tube we could maybe avoid the cath but he is putting out 3-4 times that amount so we don't anticipate this will be an option. 

In the Cath, they will get a better look at the inner workings of his heart than they can on an echocardiagram and can possibly do a few procedures that could help with the fluid that keeps building up.  The surgery created a whole new blood flow for his body which he is still getting used to but there could be some changes from the last time they did the Cath 3 weeks ago like extra vessels that have formed or narrowing of vessels that the surgery was performed on.  After Cath we'll have to wait a few days to see how his body responds and if the fluid slows. If it does we'll have the chest tube removed and hopefully go home a few days later if he doesn't reaccumulate fluid, but if not we'll have to move on to the next step of what they can do. 

The good news is that the fluid that is building up in his lungs continues to drain but we need it to slow down a lot more before we can take another step towards going home.

We are not thrilled to still be in the hospital but relieved that Landon has gotten a little more used to this routine and environment which lowers the daily stress for all of us.  Gary and I are still staying in Landon's room at night and Gary's mom is still at the Ronald McDonald house.  Luckily this means comfortable accommodations for all of us at a low (or free) cost. 

Thank you for your continued prayers.  We are still in "wait and see" mode as far as when the drainage will slow down and hope that the cath will provide some clarity in terms of information and possibly treatment.