The Other Side of Monday

Last week we kept saying we just want Monday over. And here we are on the other side of Monday. Ex-hale!

Jacob is doing really great today. His color is back, his eyes are clear, swelling is gone, and he's even gotten a little of his old "kick" back. The general report from the docs is that he's doing great, labs are good and/or steadily improving.

Can we tell if Monday's self inflicted trauma got us anywhere? ...well...heart rate is improved, pulse ox has improved (100!! What!?!) ... breathing rate has really improved (he's been in the 20s all day and 40 used to be 'good' for him!). The stats are pretty incredible. Jacob is throwing numbers on the board that we've never seen him have before.




He is still pretty covered with tubes and wires but he made a lot of progress today. I've read that engineers experience true joy when they cross items off a list... engineer parents given this situation? Of course we are keeping track. Here's the joy tally.

Paraphernalia

• Breathing tube (!!!!!!!!!) - replaced with nasal cannula supplied with oxygen and nitric oxide
• Right foot IV
• Left foot IV
• Central line (neck)
• Arterial line (left hand)
• Catheter
• G-tube foley - replaced with G-tube button (started formula!)
• Two drainage chest tube with external pace maker wires
• Arm restraints
• Rectal temperature probe
• Left foot temperature probe
• 3 pulse ox probes (two thumbs and a toe)
• Cerebral pulse ox
• EKG stickers
• Chest incision sutures

Fluids

• 3 heart meds
• Electrolytes
• IV pain meds
• Antibiotic
• Steroids
• Lasix

The breathing tube coming out the first day was big. For us the next big step is the removal of the chest tubes (draining the wound) and the central line. When those come out, we can remove the restraints (yay for Jacob) and be able to hold him (yay for all three of us).

We'll patiently take the joy one line at a time ....we are all still just happy to be on the other side of Monday.