Surgery Day #6

Today has been another great day for Carson.  Most of the morning was devoted to removing sensors, lines, machines and medicines.  While this was great news for his progress and for his parents, Carson was not quite as thrilled at the time because this also involved a lot of pulling off adhesives and removing IVs.

To summarize, the nurses first removed his subclavian line, his oxygen, and his art line (where his primary IV was located on his wrist).  A byproduct of taking out his primary IV was that he is no longer on any of his drip medication (including Melrinone, which we had been working on weening for quite some time).  After a breathing treatment they removed the oxygen sensors from his head and kidney.  All of this got Carson pretty worked up so they then put his oxygen line back on for a few minutes to calm him down.

After a couple of bottles and a good nap, the nurses began to process the paperwork to remove him from the Cardiac ICU and transition him into a step-down room.  As I am writing this, we have just made the transition into his new room and Carson is busy taking in the new scenery.

Needless to say, this has been a pretty exciting day for all of us.  Not only because Carson continues to do so well but also because we know that we are a next, major, step closer to being home.

Included below are a couple of pictures from today.  We are getting smiles and waves from Carson again, a definite sign that he is feeling better.  There is also a picture of Kaylee, she got to go into a mock operating room at the hospital and play doctor.  It was a pretty neat setup and she seemed to have a great time.