This morning was good, he had half his tubes out and was starting to come out of sedation. I was still having a pretty hard time with it because he still had the ventilator and a tube going from his nose to his belly draining all the bile. I couldn't help but think about how painful that thing down his throat must be. I was so happy when it finally came out. He looks amazing! He is off the ventilator and all he has plugged into him are a few blood pressure medicines, some oxygen and a line in each arm. He also has two sensors measuring tissue damage, one on his head, measuring the brain tissue, and one on his kidney.
Since they had to actually look into part of his heart, they had to stop it for part of the surgery. All of his blood went through the bypass machine, was cleaned, got rid of the waste, then the oxygenated blood was brought back to his body. Since the blood was going through tubes and a machine, when it gets back to the body it causes a bit of inflammation and can cause some tissue damage to some organs, one being the kidney. We are helping test one of the sensors in hopes of helping the doctors find a way to prevent kidney injury. Michael is already doing his part to make the world a better place.
After the long day yesterday, and then him still having the ventilator in this morning, we both wanted to get out of here for a while. Zoey came to the hospital to visit, but she is too young to come see her little brother. We walked around the hospital and looked all the cool things they have here. Even though the situation is not the best, this hospital is really awesome. There are a lot of things to look at and plenty of hallways to explore.
After we walked around with Zoey and her grandparents for a little bit, Bryttney decided she was going to go home with them and celebrate easter. I was still a bit depressed and having a hard time with the surgery and all the tubes. But after spending a few hours with Zoey and Bryttney's parents I thought it would be good for me to get out and see my family. It is hard to leave your little one in this kind of condition, the guilt is rough. But we also feel horrible leaving Zoey for so long, we have only seen her once in the last week. So we headed back home for the day. It was awesome visiting with family and getting back into normal conversation. We have the best family! Zoey was running around with her cousins and we played with bubbles at the park, we wrestled, we got to do an easter egg hunt, she got to help mommy do her hair. It was a really good day, it made coming back to the hospital exciting and easy. We were both so excited to see our little champion.
We got to his bed and he was crying while the nurse was changing his diaper, his little throat sounds a little sore from the tubes he had in earlier. The nurse assured us that crying was a really good sign and was very good for the lungs after surgery. She said they want them to cry a little bit and have him on some medicine to help with the inflammation in his throat. He kept fussing after the diaper change was over so they tried to feed him a bit. He took the bottle and was able to eat on his own. That was a really good sign, he is moving a long at a really good pace. He looks really good, we should be weening him off some of his oxygen through out the night. He is such a little champion, he has been progressing all night and all day. He is so strong already, I can't wait to see what kind of personality he has. He is awesome! I hope everyone knows just how awesome these little guys are, they are so strong!
