Is it possible?

Can Zach, a.k.a. Flint Lockwood, really be back to normal already? Only 11 days after open heart surgery? He is feeling great (not even taking Tylenol!), sleeping great, and eating great (despite the Fat Free Diet). The only time he feels any pain is if he has to cough or sneeze (just the thought of it makes me cringe). Incredible! I shouldn't be surprised, really. Not with all the prayers that have been lifted up to The Great Physician.

Zach and Daddy laying in the bounce house playing with his bouquet of balloons that our good friends sent him.

Zach had a great visit with the cardiologist this morning. Zach was funny this morning as we headed downstairs for his x-ray. Daddy pointed down the hall and told him we were going to Radiology. Zach said, "No Dad, we hafta go to X-RAY!" When the doctor came in, the first thing Zach said was "I'm on a diet!" Great report: nothing of concern on the chest x-ray, sats were great at 92-94, blood pressure just where it oughtta be. We go back in 2 weeks for another chest x-ray. So now that I don't have anything to worry about heart-wise, I am worried about all these x-rays. Aye-aye-aye --- the life of a heart mom!

I talked to the dietician from MUSC for a little more guidance with our diet. We are VERY limited, but I think I have a good menu planned. I just hope Mr. Picky can hold out for another 5.5 weeks!

So, we are looking forward to a very restful weekend at home. Hopefully next week we will feel like getting out a little at a time. After all, we gotta go see Toy Story 3!

Now, Dorothy, close your eyes and repeat after me...

There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.

There really is no place like home. We got in this evening after swinging by to pick up Rebecca. With all 4 of us under one roof, Zach likes to say, "We are a family!"

Now we can get down to some REAL recovery!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging comments --- they carried us through!

Please help carry another heart buddy through. Sam is having the Fontan (the same surgery Zach just had) at MUSC tomorrow morning (Thursday). Please lift him and his family up.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep in MY bed!

Tubeless and fancy free!

I can't believe it!!! NO MORE TUBES!!! They just removed the 2 remaining chest tubes and Zach is sitting up in bed eating his lunch! Hallelujah!!! We have to hang out until sometime tomorrow to make sure there is no fluid accumulating (they will do another chest xray and echo at some point). If all is well, we will be packing up to go home tomorrow! I keep reminding myself... Don't count your chickens until they are hatched.

In the meantime, here's a video I shot of Zach this morning. Just to prove how good he's been feeling.

A Day in Pictures...

After getting over his initial grumpiness, our day ended up being pretty good. We had some visitors --- so sweet of my good friend and fellow librarian, Susan and her son William to come and visit while they were down visiting family. We also spent some time with our new friends Debby and Melissa. We are so blessed!

Here are a few pictures from today.

 

In the bed but still in constant motion!

The Atrium is a wonderful place!! We were able to go 3 times today. Zach ought to sleep well tonight!

A beautiful view of the city from the Atrium

Playing a little Wii --- he's either concentrating REALLY hard or very tired. Maybe both!

Cheers!

Dad's idea of a turkey sandwich. I don't think you are supposed to put the WHOLE turkey on there, Dad!

Now for some REAL food (well, fat-free cafeteria food instead of plastic food)! I think Zach finally has his appetite back!

THE WALL

We have hit the wall. 7 days of people messing with Flint Lockwood and he's had enough. When I asked him about going to the playroom, he said "No, I want to go home." Blood Pressure? NO WAY! Temperature? NO! NO! NO! Medicine? FORGET IT! GO AWAY!

Thank you for your prayers. Please pray for cooperation from the boy. He needs to get up so we can get the drainage to go down some more. It has leveled off. He still has some fluid around his lungs, too so pray he can pee it off.

As Dorothy says, "There's no place like home... there's no place like home..."

Still hangin' out in 7C

Zach is doing so much better as you can see! Saturday morning he still wasn't feeling good at all (hence the prayer request for a "movement"). Praises! He had some success on the potty that alleviated his discomfort for the time being. We got to go to the playroom twice yesterday and took a walk in the hall last night. This morning he went to the playroom for about 45 minutes and did great. We are headed back to the playroom at 2pm. One of his favorite things to do is to doctor on the babies.

They said his chest x-ray still shows some fluid around one lung so they want to leave the chest tubes in until at least tomorrow. He will have another x-ray in the morning. It is just a waiting game.

Zach likes to "mess" with the doctors and nurses, so he says, "I not Zach. I Flint Lockwood." (from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. If you haven't seen it, get it. It's a cute movie) So one of his nurses put his name on the door and printed out a picture of Flint. Funny Boy!!!

In the meantime, we refer often to our roadmap back home. Just before surgery, I checked out The Wizard of Oz and Zach fell in love with it. I ended up buying it and he has watched it about 100 times. When we were in ICU, they suggested making a chart to help Zach to cooperate a little bit more. I started drawing this roadmap that would help Zach see all that we need to do to get back home. You can sing it, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!"

We have been so blessed by all the notes, emails, and calls. Thank you for your encouragement and support. God is so good and His Holy Spirit has truly been here to comfort and strengthen us. Please continue to pray for Zach to be able to eat (this fat-free diet is tricky) so he can regain some strength, for pain management, for the drainage to taper off, to stay free of any infection, and to be able to go potty again (not necessarily in that order!)

Pray for what???

I can't believe I'm posting this. Zach will be mortified one day when he knows.

Please pray for Zach to be able to go. You know... poop. He still hasn't been able to go since surgery. 5 days ago. Enough to make anyone miserable. Pain meds don't help the situation but they are necessary.

We had a great morning yesterday and then they took out his middle chest tube and pacing wires. He slept finally for a few minutes and then woke up in excruciating pain. It is so hard to see your child like that and not be able to do anything about it.

We are hoping for a better day --- for him to feel like getting up to play. That will be the best medicine of all.