Baby steps

Last night after I made the post about the better mood, I returned to find Daddy struggling with a very, very grumpy Zach. He had all of his monitors beeping and beeping because he was so upset (heart rate up = blood pressure up = oxygen sats down = lots of beeping). Not pretty music to hear. The bad news is that Versed is not knocking him out --- its only making him a really mean drunk.

Here's a funny... one time yesterday, something started beeping and Zach slapped his hand across his forehead and said, "Oh, what now???"

At around 9:00pm we turned a corner and Zach conked out. We left to go back to "Mrs. D's Hotel" (as Zach calls it) to get some much needed sleep. We were a little apprehensive about leaving him, but apparently he slept all night. I think they finally got on top of the pain, making him much more comfortable. They also started giving him Benedryl for the itching which helped.

He woke up around 8:00am and actually smiled a couple of times! I can't tell you how much it blesses my heart to see that first post-op smile! That is good medicine for Mommy! He at a breakfast of Cheerios, bacon, fruit, and apple juice. Please pray for more smiles. I got a picture of him smiling but I have no way to download it yet. I hope to post some pictures soon.

In rounds, the doctor said that they will remove several of his tethers today and we will move to a room on the floor later. They said his lungs still look cloudy, but that will get better as he starts moving around more today and tt-ing and coughing more. So far his drainage output has been good and they will be taking out the one in the middle, which will make Zach more comfortable as this one is a very stiff tube.  His output will have to decrease a lot before they will remove the other two chest tubes.  Now that he is eating we will have to see if he will develop Chlyothorax or not, which is where the fats that he takes in cannot get drained away and collect in the chest cavity. Please pray that his body will be able to do its job on the drainage.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement! Mom and Dad are holding up pretty well but when they put us in a room, one of us will be staying with him at night. So, pray for good rest for us as we take turns doing duty.