6.11.10 - Right on track

Sorry this post is so late - everything is fine though, so no worries. My day got a little off because I stayed at the hospital with Liam last night, so I went home to nap for a bit and shower this afternoon.

Liam is progressing very well since coming of the vent. He is still very coarse and "junky" sounding in his upper airway, but he is continuing to get the steroid Decadron every 6 hours to minimize swelling as well as respiratory treatments of antibiotics and some deep suctioning to get mucous out. Those are not fun things to watch him fight through, but a neccessary evil I guess.

He is sleeping very well considering they are starting to wean back his sedation and pain medicine. He wakes up about 20-30 minutes at a time, but will then sleep anywhere from 1-3 hours at a time. Thankfully, we have been able to calm him down a few times and get him back to sleep without giving him additional sedatives, so that is good news.

The plan going forward is to:

1) wean him off all the IV sedation and pain medications
2) After Liam poops, they can start feeding him again
3) wean off oxygen and get his upper airway checked out by the ENT
4) An echocardiagram to make sure heart is still in good shape from surgery

After these thing happen, we can go to the regular pediatric floor for a day or two, then go home! The NP said she estimates by midweek next week we should be going home.

I'll be staying with Liam probably each night until we go home. Now that he is more aware as he is coming off the sedation, it's hard to leave him alone at night. I have not been able to hold him yet, but it should be soon. Once they can take him central IV line out after all the IV meds are stopped, I should get to hold him....I want what's best for him, but it's hard to wait! And I don't think I want to take any chances on praying for patience right now! LOL

Will update in the morning... Gotta try to get some rest!!