Post Op Day 7 - Chest tubes out and a few pics

After the unavoidable chest x ray this morning Landon went down to the 3rd floor to get his chest tubes removed (YAY!).  They used a small amount of anesthesia to knock him  out but not enough that he needed the respirator.  They also put in an IV while he was out - they don't need it for anything right now but better for him to get it while he's out instead of while he's awake just in case it is needed later.  We aren't thrilled about it but knowing what a tough stick he can be, it's the lesser of two evils.

We asked the surgeon about the test that came back "iffy" yesterday and he's not concerned about it right now and it definitely wasn't a reason to postpone removing chest tubes.  His x rays looked good this morning so that was a good final check to make sure we were good to go.  With anesthesia he wasn't allowed to eat anything several hours before or drink anything a few hours before so he was hungry and thirsty by the time we got down there.

 So with his chest tubes out our next step is to continue to monitor his chest xrays closely to make sure he doesn't have any additional fluid that needs to be addressed.  It is a possibility they could have to put the chest tubes back in (as I'm sure it always is) so we will hope and pray the we can manage the fluid with medication and moving around a lot to help his body reabsorb any additional fluid.  The next few days will be very telling in whether we will be able to move forward (and go home!) or have to step back a little bit.  We're excited that going home could be soon but not counting down the days just yet since we know how quickly things can change.  

With his chest tubes out it will be much easier to get him in and out of bed so we can hold him a little bit more and get him up to walk some more. 

Sitting up tuesday

Playing with trucks Tuesday (moving so fast it's a blurry pic - signs that he's getting back to his old self).

Sitting with Daddy Wednesday after getting chest tubes out (gauze where the 3 tubes once were)

Last night

Landon has slept a lot tonight and is still sleeping and much more peacefully.  Hopefully this is what he needs for his body to kick out the last bit of fluid so we can get the chest tubes out.  A much needed break for Allison and I too.  There were a fair share of frustrating moments yesterday, but I'm hopeful from here on out every day will be a little better than the last.

Resting peacefully

Like Gary said Landon has been sleeping a lot, which is good. Hopefully it will help him recover quickly. He has been upset some when he wakes up, sometimes because he's hungry, sometimes he's in pain, sometimes it's a combination or we're not really sure which it is so we treat him like it's both. We were told he'd be more fussy after this surgery than the last one because since his body is getting used to the new flow, there will be more pressure in his head for a little while and it might give him headaches. He's on tylenol and basically a "strong ibuprofen" right now with the occasional morphine as needed.

In rounds this morning they said he will come down some on his oxygen (down to a 1/2 liter per minute, he was on 1/4 at home so almost back to "normal".) We'd be thrilled if he could come off of it completely before going home but we won't hold our breath on that. He will likely get his chest tubes out later today or tomorrow morning, at which point he'd probably be moved from the CICU to the CPCU (Cardiac progressive care unit) which is a step down unit.

When he wakes up and is hungry he gets upset pretty quick but usually calms down some once he eats. We haven't picked him up to hold him yet, not because we can't, but when he wakes up so hungry it's just not worth the extra time (and potential discomfort for him) it takes to get him out of his bed and into our arms with all the wires and stuff. I'm sure we'll hold him soon, but right now we're content to just sit him up on bed and let him eat and then go back to sleep. He got his catheter out this morning so that is one less thing that is uncomfortable.

One possibly concern is that his heart rate has been on the low side and has had times where it takes dips down into the 80s (normal heart rate for him is 110-160). Apparently this is not uncommon for after this surgery, but they did an EKG just a little while ago to make sure everything was ok and we haven't heard a result from that yet. We're glad he's just sleeping away most of the time and getting some good rest!