Post Op Day 6 - Rounding the Corner

Today has been a little bit easier for Landon - still had an xray this morning but the rest of the day has been a little bit quieter.  We tried to get him up to walk a little bit this morning and he took a few more steps than last night but still did not like being forced to stand up.  We got him out of bed again after dinner to walk again and he is getting better each time. 

He still had his fare share of upset moments today and apparently during a thrashing session he kinked the IV in his arm and rendered it useless (and very bloody) so they had to take it out.  Which is pretty impressive since they had it taped to an arm board and covered and everything so he couldn't see it.  They are planning on pulling his chest tubes in the morning which they will sedate him for so if they need to put in another IV they can do it  then.  They ran a few tests on the fluid draining from his chest and one came back great and the other came back iffy so they will run the results by the surgery team before they pull the chest tubes tomorrow morning. 

He finally got a bath this morning - the first one he's had since surgery.  With all the stickies and sweating he's had over the last week he was definitely grubby and is looking much better.  And medicine has gotten much better over the last few days.  He still does not like it but is not throwing quite as much of a fit over them, which is nice because some of them are several times a day. 

Like I said, today had its difficult moments but we also saw a lot more of Landon's personality.  He willingly sat up for a while (before we kind of had to force him to sit up and he wasn't happy about it) and played with some trucks in bed for a while and was just a little bit happier and belly laughing at times.  It seems like each day for the last few days we've gotten a little bit longer stretches of time of him being in a good mood which is a lot of fun.  He's even learning new things so we are glad to see that he does not appear to be affected by surgery from a cognitive or developmental perspective at this point.  Today he learned to say "excuse me" after he burps and even did it once unprompted.

We are hoping after getting chest tubes out tomorrow he will be even happier and more comfortable - it will certainly make him more mobile.  Please pray that the iffy results on the fluid turn out to not be a concern and we can move forward with getting the chest tubes out.  Getting those out would be huge to getting out of the hospital and back home to our normal routine very soon. 

_____________________________

Gary here.  Just a quick note from my perspective.

The emotional roller coaster is taxing, but God seems to provide the glimmers we need to make it through each day. Words can't describe how hard some of this has been, but words also fail to describe the joy we have for getting our little boy back and through this.  His saturations are already a lot higher on room air. 

We are so excited to see the positive impact this will have on Landon's energy and activities.  There have been times in the past where I stopped and noticed how tired he would get doing some simple tasks.  It was God's way of showing me how necessary this surgery was despite how well Landon was doing. 

Thanks for your prayers.  We still need them.  To throw a sports analogy out there,  we're in the 4th quarter, but we can't stop until the clock reads zero so we can go home.