1.16.12 - Pause and resume...

All back to normal around here.  Liam recovered well at home last week, running wild like his usual self the day we got home.  The only thing that has cropped back up again is his cough.  I really thought we were out of the woods on that, since at the hospital he had no signs of congestion or coughing, but I guess he either picked up a cold from there or his lungs got irritated with the intubation.  I tried googling "cough after heart cath", but some scary stuff cropped up (that I don't think is going on with him in case though), so I'm just keeping a close eye on it.  So, no slowing down on his nebby treatments.  We will have a follow up with the lung doctor and cardiology in a few weeks.  Which means we are a few steps closer to getting his TUBE out!!  Again =)

I am happy to report that Liam did not need his tube at all for recovery.  Although we used it to give him his tylenol post-op (well, if we have it, we may as well not have him getting upset over meds, right??!).  But as far as feeding goes, Liam was able to take thickened juice in the recovery room, right after the cath (even though it didn't stay down).  At first we were worried, because he immediately started desatting when he was chugging his juice...So we had to pull it away.  But we ruled that he just got too anxious and was so thirsty, he was only focusing on drinking...The nurses assured me that kind of thing was normal in recovery...His sats went back to normal within a few minutes of making him relax for a minute, and so we let him continue drinking (to keep him happy) and his sats stayed fine.  Although we tried to keep his chin tucked, to reduce the risk of aspiration.  He didn't keep anything down the first night, however, so I definitely had my concerns.  But the next morning he was much better and held down everything, so I am assuming he gets like his mommy does under anesthesia - very nauseous!!  We are thankful we can more comfortably say now that we no longer need his tube.  Just a few more weeks, hopefully...prayerfully!!

I had forgotten how much I dislike staying in the hospital.  Liam had some moments (full out not-my-son tantrums) the night following and next morning, that I was stressed to say the least.  I was also praying this wouldn't be the one procedure to turn him bad against all things medical.  He literally threw a fit so bad before his morning echo that he passed out in my arms...which at the time, was a blessing.  I had no idea how I was going to get him to calm down, lay still...etc, etc.  Poor thing.  But that seemed to be all he needed was a nice long quiet nap, and after that, he was more like himself.

On another family note, they still do not have a placement for us in our apartment ministry.  We widened our search area a bit, so we are praying the Lord's got this and in His timing He will find us the perfect community to serve.  It is just getting hard to be patient and wait!  I am longing for that smaller space! =)

Well we have lots of goodies coming up!  CHD Awareness week is in a few short weeks, so I'm drafting up my week of special posts...I am really excited, because I will be hosting my first special giveaway that week that you don't want to miss!  CHD Awareness week is February 7-14...so stay tuned!!