Wow...what a day!! Landen is CRUSHING IT today. Last night was kind of a tough start, but he worked through the challenges and I am pleased to give a happy report :)
Last night we had planned to extubate him around 9, but that process proved to be way less fun than anticipated (not that anyone said it would be easy). Around 1:15 Ashley and I decided that one of us needed to get some rest, so Ashley went to the sleep space and I stayed here in the room till he was finally extubated around 2am. Its a horrible process, and seeing him in such agony was hard to watch but in the moment he could speak his first word was daddy....ya, it was great to hear his little soft scratchy voice. Unfortunately, the rest of the night was not a ton more fun. Landen and I were up most of the night together to the point where we just moved him over and I joined him in bed...neither of us slept, but we both felt better as the night activities rolled on. around 6 he started asking for Ashley and thankfully she was on the way. As soon as Ashley was here, I left for the sleep room and slept from about 7-11.
While I was asleep it was a pretty eventful morning. Landen had his CVL removed, PIV in the foot removed and a PIV placed in his arm. Once I returned we continued the fun with removing his folie, arterial line in the groin, arterial line in the neck. Each one of these procedures took a good hour to prepare for and execute and was NOT FUN for Landen, but he powered through. He was really having a problem with the nasal cannula as it was drying out his nose so we got him to switch to a mask just sitting on his chest at a high volume. Thankfully Dr Kaza came by and said that he is fine above 80% which off O2 he stabilizes around 84 resting...so we stopped O2 all together as well. Unfortunately the only bummer during the process today is he never peed after removing the folie, so we had to give him a strait cath and drain his bladder...lets just say this is the ONLY thing I cant watch. As a guy its hard to imagine enduring that while awake, so Mom was by his side for that one (he wanted her anyway ;) ).
For lunch, his first request was a burger and yogurt. He was so excited to get a burger, but when it arrived it was diced up into chunks. Landen did NOT accept this. He wanted a real man burger! so that's what we ordered for dinner :). Other than the burger, he ate well and relaxed as much as he could in between each major removal. Around 4:30 we got him out of bed and he took a walk. For now, about 5 feet was all he could do (and he was not happy about doing even that) so I carried him the rest of the way to the toy chest where he could pick out a toy and a balloon while we sat on the window sill to watch the cars below. It was so great to see him up and that absolutely helped with his overall mobility and with his chest drainage.
For now, he will keep his chest tubes in as well as the pacing wires and the IV in his arm. The goal I think will be to have him to the floor tomorrow sometime, but no one is rushing him. Our hope also is that he starts peeing on his own. Unfortunately, if he doesn't pee on his own before 9, then we have to put a cath in again to drain his bladder....no fun!
Thank you all for the prayers, and keep them coming. Gonna be a while before we are home, but we are making progress and this little man is a trooper!
Enjoying the journey 5 feet at a time,
George, Ashley, Landen, Maddie & Lyla :)
Last night we had planned to extubate him around 9, but that process proved to be way less fun than anticipated (not that anyone said it would be easy). Around 1:15 Ashley and I decided that one of us needed to get some rest, so Ashley went to the sleep space and I stayed here in the room till he was finally extubated around 2am. Its a horrible process, and seeing him in such agony was hard to watch but in the moment he could speak his first word was daddy....ya, it was great to hear his little soft scratchy voice. Unfortunately, the rest of the night was not a ton more fun. Landen and I were up most of the night together to the point where we just moved him over and I joined him in bed...neither of us slept, but we both felt better as the night activities rolled on. around 6 he started asking for Ashley and thankfully she was on the way. As soon as Ashley was here, I left for the sleep room and slept from about 7-11.
While I was asleep it was a pretty eventful morning. Landen had his CVL removed, PIV in the foot removed and a PIV placed in his arm. Once I returned we continued the fun with removing his folie, arterial line in the groin, arterial line in the neck. Each one of these procedures took a good hour to prepare for and execute and was NOT FUN for Landen, but he powered through. He was really having a problem with the nasal cannula as it was drying out his nose so we got him to switch to a mask just sitting on his chest at a high volume. Thankfully Dr Kaza came by and said that he is fine above 80% which off O2 he stabilizes around 84 resting...so we stopped O2 all together as well. Unfortunately the only bummer during the process today is he never peed after removing the folie, so we had to give him a strait cath and drain his bladder...lets just say this is the ONLY thing I cant watch. As a guy its hard to imagine enduring that while awake, so Mom was by his side for that one (he wanted her anyway ;) ).
For lunch, his first request was a burger and yogurt. He was so excited to get a burger, but when it arrived it was diced up into chunks. Landen did NOT accept this. He wanted a real man burger! so that's what we ordered for dinner :). Other than the burger, he ate well and relaxed as much as he could in between each major removal. Around 4:30 we got him out of bed and he took a walk. For now, about 5 feet was all he could do (and he was not happy about doing even that) so I carried him the rest of the way to the toy chest where he could pick out a toy and a balloon while we sat on the window sill to watch the cars below. It was so great to see him up and that absolutely helped with his overall mobility and with his chest drainage.
For now, he will keep his chest tubes in as well as the pacing wires and the IV in his arm. The goal I think will be to have him to the floor tomorrow sometime, but no one is rushing him. Our hope also is that he starts peeing on his own. Unfortunately, if he doesn't pee on his own before 9, then we have to put a cath in again to drain his bladder....no fun!
Thank you all for the prayers, and keep them coming. Gonna be a while before we are home, but we are making progress and this little man is a trooper!
Enjoying the journey 5 feet at a time,
George, Ashley, Landen, Maddie & Lyla :)
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