Piya's Perspective

Seems the quick road to recovery means keeping busy.  I woke up with time this morning and grabbed some breakfast before rounds.  When the doctor’s came by, they had their discussion and offered a glimmer of hope that we could go home in the evening.  I then thought I would be waiting for the chest tube to come out and then we’d be done.  I should have realized there would be more. 

They mentioned they wanted his stomach to be empty when they removed the chest tube, so I was told not to feed him.  Unfortunately, he wound up having to wait another 2-3 hours, and he was already getting hungry.  Let’s just say he was a bit upset by this.  Heart rate managed to reach 196.  I did at least have the foresight to ask for some sugar water that I could dip a binky into and that helped a bit.

I managed to calm him a bit (HR down to mid-170s) when some techs came in to do an Echo Cardio Gram.  1.5 hours later he was finally done with the echo and a much calmer boy.  The ‘echo dude’ (as the tech signed his heart pillow) wasn’t even out of the room when a lady came in for an EKG.  After the EKG was they did a heel prick for some lab work and finally he got his chest tube out.  He wasn’t quite done yet tho.  At least they let me feed him before his chest x-ray.

He managed to get a nap after eating, not surprising considering he’d been awake all morning and ate for 40 minutes.  I shouldn’t have been too surprised that he ate the rest of the day — literally.  Yesterday, when I’d rushed to see him in the morning, I was told he’d guzzled 4 ounces of breastmilk.  After the chest x-ray, he ate for an hour.  Then rested a bit before eating for 2 hours.

Not too long after his afternoon meal, Deb and a few coworkers stopped by to say hello.  It was a crowded little room, I must say.  It was nice to visit though and my coworkers had brought some goodies.  Snacks and logic puzzles for me, toys for simeon.

In between everything, the nurse practitioner stopped by and explained that he needed to stay overnight.  After looking at the echo and his blood pressure, they noticed that his left ventricle needs some help.  It is so used to slacking off and getting the right ventricle to work extra, it needs a little motivation to do it’s fair share.  So, they’re monitoring his blood pressure over night and we’ll go home with a drug that relaxes the blood vessels.  The nurse practitioner also explained a bit about taking care of the incision and chest tube area, about the next few dr appointments, and a way to increase his calorie intake.  Knowing how tired I was, I asked her to stop by again later and explain it to Ari as well…I was just afraid I’d miss something.

So, now I’m awake because Simeon keeps catnapping…he’s finally getting a little longer sleep so I think it’s safe to try again myself.  He’s woken up a couple times, but is falling back asleep on his own.  Here’s hoping I’m not totally over the sleepiness from earlier.  I was so tired I napped while he was sitting with me on the bed.  Now I feel wide awake :s.  At least I can rest assured I will be in my own bed tomorrow night.  Well – unless I’m in the chair in the nursery feeding Simeon all night.