7am: Henry had a very busy day yesterday with one of the two chest tubes removed along with the pacemaker wires, his central line and other lines. He is off the stronger pain meds and is now taking just Tylenol with codeine when he expresses discomfort. They are starting him on a new set of medications to regulate his heart and may go home on a few of those too. His recovery has been amazing. He has less anxiety and is more tolerant of the daily interruptions (meds,blood draws, x-rays, etc).
Because of all this, he was able to move to the step down unit, Cardiac Acute in room 2344. He is slowly transitioning back to a "normal" life and the doctors have him on a low fat diet and minimal fluids for the time being. He ate all of his macaroni and cheese for dinner last night (of course low fat, so I'm not sure how yummy that could be but he ate it).
Over the next few days, the goal is for his body to adjust to his new cardiovascular circulation. The main indicator is the output from his chest tube. This is also one of his major discomforts and also requires him to be on a bit of O2 (.5 liters). The nasal cannula is also an irritant but at least he pulls on these and not the chest tube or incision. It is difficult to determine when we will be going home but we continue to be optimistic. Praying also helps:-).
I'd post some pictures but I'm using the computer in his room and not sure how to upload. The new hospital is pretty cool, Steve just showed me how to use the Internet from the room. Prior post were from my IPhone.
He's sleeping peacefully right now. When he wakes up, we are going for our first walk! Woohoo.
3 comments:
Keep the good news coming. :-)
So happy to hear things are progressing in a positive direction. We're praying for you guys!! Love, the Lombardo's
So happy to hear the good news. Henry is such a survivor! I just know he'll be up and terrorizing Macy's again with his mom and I in no time... lol. Can't wait. Love you guys. Prayers are still coming. --- Cheri and Natalie
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