George's Surgery: Days 5 & 6

Not much happened on Day 5 at the hospital. We woke up in a new room, having moved the night before. The PICU was clearing out and they wanted to move us closer to the nurse’s station. In the morning, George FINALLY pooped for us. Kinda gross to announce, but it is a big deal following major surgery to know that my little boy’s body is functioning properly. Nurse Monica was back with us again, and she attempted to get George to walk again. This time, it worked. He seemed ready and eager to get out there! His legs were still very weak but he was moving right along.

This was bittersweet, because it meant that it was time to move out of the PICU and to the Peds floor. The nurses in the PICU are some of the most amazing nurses I’ve ever met, and we especially bonded with Monica as she was our nurse the majority of the time we were there. Here is George and I packed up and (sort of) ready for the move.

 

 

Moving to the Peds floor was a major change for us, and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. That first night away from the PICU was rough. George threw up twice and needed to be changed and bathed. Luckily, the nurse we had that night used to work in the PICU at a hospital in Raleigh before she moved here, and she was particularly familiar with the care needed for heart surgery patients. She was a lifesaver! She gave George some medicine to stop the vomiting and we went to sleep for the night. That was the end of the vomiting! The next morning, George woke up ready to eat some Cheerios. Doesn’t he look so happy? I enjoyed sitting with him and holding him, especially with him smiling so much. My little George was coming back to me.

After breakfast, we were allowed to go into the playroom early to pick out some toys for George to help him start standing/walking on his own. As soon as he got in there, he was all over the place! It was hard to keep up with him and at one point he fell down trying to push around a toy car. That was pretty scary, but he was fine and recovered quickly. Once we picked out a few toys, we hung out in the play room for a bit longer to play while the nurses set up and awesome play area in our room, complete with a soft playmat for him to stand on.

But before he was able to start playing, we were told that he will be getting released from the hospital at around noon!!!! The nurse took his last IV out, which he did great with except once it was finally out and she put the Band-Aid on he started crying. Go figure.

Then it was time to play! We got him out of his hospital gown and into a pajama top. The pants were a bit too long and we didn’t want him to trip over them. His legs had gotten so skinny since we first got to the hospital. I didn’t realize how much muscle mass he was losing just laying in bed until I saw him standing on those little sticks. My little boys chunky thighs were all gone. Now I can see why he was so wobbly.

Shortly after playing, the pediatric cardiologist and pediatrician came in to talk about care at home, when to call the doctor, fever concerns, etc. All that fun discharge stuff. Then all we had to do was wait for Aaron to leave work and get the van to pick us up! Once he arrived, he started loading the van while I signed the official discharge papers. Then the nurse brought in the wagon for George to leave the hospital in style. He wasn’t too sure about the wagon this time and looked rather grumpy/unsure to begin with.

But then as we started going down the hall, onto the elevator, and down the main hallway where he could see out the window, he started to get happier. Then for the first time in almost a week, we were OUTSIDE! I saw George light up as soon as we walked out the door and he could hear the cars, feel the breeze, and then he saw our van and I knew that he knew he was finally going home!

Here is Aaron and George shortly after we got home from the hospital. George was all set up on the couch with some juice and crackers, a blanket, and the TV. So happy to be home!

George's Surgery: Day 4

Nights have gotten better with more sleeping. Still not a full night’s rest, which is almost impossible to do in a hospital with vitals constantly being checked. Aaron came by early in the morning and Nurse Monica said it was time to get George out of bed and get him to start walking again. I’ve been too scared to hold him myself, for fear of injuring him, but Aaron seems to have no problem with it. So I stood by with the camera and Aaron and Nurse Monica got George out of bed and ready for some walking. This did not go well, as George’s legs were wobbly. He reminded me a lot of Bambi learning to walk for the first time. George couldn’t even hold himself up much less take a step on his own. And he was absolutely miserable being out of bed. He spent most of the time crying and we all finally just gave up and put him back in bed.



After his walking attempt, it was time to remove a drainage tube! He also got a new IV started in his hand because the old one was getting irritated. The best thing that happened was that George got his central line in his neck removed!!!! This meant that George got to have his arm restraints taken off and could give his teddy bear a great big hug. As you can see, it wasn’t very much fun for him to get these things removed, and he did a lot of crying and straining and worked up quite a sweat. But he does look content now holding his teddy bear and being able to lie on his side.

He was quite pouty for the rest of the morning. Too much going on, I suppose.

We got a new nurse in the afternoon, named Elise and she had a wonderful idea of taking George on a wagon ride around the PICU. I had the task of lifting him out of bed and putting him in the wagon. I was so nervous about it and it was the first time I held him in days. It was special, yet scary for me.

 

George was not too happy about being taken out of his bed and being put in the wagon. He did not know what was about to happen. But once the wagon started moving, you could see him just begin to relax. He sure was a cute little guy! After doing a couple of laps around the PICU, the nurse practitioner suggested that we take him around the rest of the children’s hospital. So off we went!

 

 

With the children’s hospital still being very new, the halls and waiting areas were very quiet. We stopped by a fish tank just outside the special care nursery. It was here that Nurse Elise felt we should try to get George to walk again. George was not happy about this but he did take a few steps with some assistance. He wanted to get back in the wagon so we made him walk to the wagon.

Once back in the wagon, he decided to be pouty again. But the rest of us were very happy with his accomplishment. Here he is with Nurse Elise.

To cheer him again, we went downstairs to the lobby to check out the “wall”. He enjoyed popping all of the bubbles but it was time to head back up to the PICU.

It was time to put him back in his bed and then he spent the rest of the evening entertaining us! He began making his big smiles again, showing lots of teeth as he was playing with his Papa. He also enjoyed some graham crackers and some banana. I was so happy that he was finally eating real food again!

George's Surgery: Day 3

George’s night started off well. He slept from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and so did I. It felt so nice to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time. When he woke up at 1, he was thirsty again and the nurse felt he was ready to have something other than water. We gave him some apple juice on a swab like we had done with the water and he drank it right up. Shortly after, he kept saying “owie”, so it was time for more morphine (he was still getting it every 2 hours). However, the morphine and apple juice did not go together well and he threw it all up. Nurse Stacie came in and gave him a sponge bath, changed his gown and bed sheets, and afterwards George got comfy and watched some TV. But of course he would not let me go lie down, so I sat with him at his bedside. He kept getting fussy and tried to remove his oxygen. The nurse said it was probably tickling his nose. A couple of hours after he threw up the first time, he threw up again. So he got another sponge bath, new bed sheets, and new gown. He also got some medicine to stop the vomiting. He finally fell back to sleep and I was able to get some sleep too.

 

When morning came around, the doctors decided it was time to remove a few more things. He got his oxygen removed, pacer wires, and the bandage that was covering his incision. The incision looked a lot better than I thought it would. Because the chest tubes are still draining a lot of fluid, they decided to leave those in for another day.

 

He has held down 4 oz. of apple juice for over an hour and may get to progress to more real foods soon. Respiratory care came by (as they do a couple of times a day) and they are very pleased with his lungs. They’re nice and clear and he never had to go back on the oxygen.

 

We spent most of the day lounging around watching TV. Aaron and his mom also came and stayed with George while I went home to rejuvenate. The day was mostly uneventful. George was fascinated by the red light on his toe. It reminded me a lot of E.T. George kept lifting his leg up high to check it out.

 

 

George's Surgery: Day 2

Our first night after surgery was not fun. George spent much of the night gagging on his breathing tubes and sometime in the early morning hours, he kicked out his Foley catheter. He had a wonderful nurse, Stacie, who checked on him very often and was stationed right outside his room. I tried to get some sleep, and it was during one of these short naps that I heard someone calling for assistance. It was Stacie paging the charge nurse because George had just broken his Foley. He was very upset and kicking his legs and the Foley got caught between his toes and out it came. I got up very quickly, and the charge nurse came in and we all got George to calm down. Then while I held his little hand, they managed to put in a new Foley (this I couldn’t watch) and get everything all cleaned up.

 

A few hours later, the sun was up and Stacie’s shift was over. Our new nurse for the day was Monica. On this morning, the doctors decided it was time to remove his Foley permanently, and also to remove one of his chest tubes and his breathing tubes. This was really good news!

 

Here is the little man right after those things were removed. As you can see, he’s still got a lot of tubes and wires. He’s still on oxygen, but at least this time it’s not gagging him. He also still has two drainage tubes. His pacer wires are still in (just in case), and of course his IV’s (one in each arm and a central line going through his neck). He also got a gown on to help keep him warm. After the ordeal of getting things removed, he was in for a little nap.

 

 

I was able to go home and shower and rest while Aaron and his mom stayed with George. During this time, Aaron got the opportunity to hold George for the first time! I know this meant a lot to him. Here is one happy daddy and one very sleepy little boy. I’m so glad that Grandma was there to capture this moment.

 

 

When I got back, George was awake and hungry. Of course having not eaten in two days, we had to start off slow. Our nurse, Monica, had brought in some swabs to moisten his mouth, but as soon as George discovered that the swab contained water, he grabbed it and got to sucking. He was so thirsty! After he sucked the water out, he’d hand it back to the nurse for more. He ended up drinking a good amount of water and the nurse had to cut him off, for fear he might be getting too much and not be able to keep it down. But here he is with his nurse and his swabs. I loved how he kept looking at her with those handsome eyes, almost begging for more water. How could anyone resist?

 

After all this, he was in for another nap! It was during this time that we finally cleaned the betadine from his face where the breathing tubes were. One other great moment for him was getting his pacifier back. It really helped us all out because he could soothe himself back to sleep and I could lie down and rest for longer periods of time.

 

Bridget and my parents came by for a visit that afternoon. Bridget helped Nurse Monica with the scan gun they used before administering medication. Bridget watched Monica very carefully and seemed to be learning a lot.

 

 

The only big concern that we had on this day was that George hadn’t pee’d since his Foley was removed that morning. We waited, and waited, and waited. We rubbed his tummy and used damp clothes on his feet and nothing seemed to be working. His bladder was getting very, very full. It was time for Nurse Monica to go home and Nurse Stacie was back for the night. Because of the concern of George’s bladder rupturing, Stacie left to go get a Foley. We were all really dreading having to put a Foley back in so while she was gone, I kept rubbing his tummy and telling him to pee. Finally he did!!! It was 7:30 p.m. and he filled 2 diapers, one right after the other. Here he is with Nurse Stacie getting checked out. He’s sitting up somewhat on his own. He was a bit wobbly so we were sure to keep a hand close by in case he started to fall.