Post-op Day 1

Shortly after I sent the last blog post, Chris and I were able to call Wes and Ellie and video chat with them.  Nate was opening his eyes now and then, apparently heard his brother's voice and wanted to talk to him.  We put the phone in front of Nate and as soon as he saw Wesley's face he stuck out his tongue and blew raspberries at him!! It was the most beautiful sight!  I laughed hard as tears rolled down my cheeks.  He had just come out of major surgery a couple hours before, was still coming out of anesthesia and was on a bunch of pain meds to try and dull his pain...but that feisty personality...it's in there and can not be contained!

The night was ok.  Nate was obviously in a lot of pain and spiked a fever, which was causing his heart to race...all very normal after a big surgery like this.  I was in and out of consciousness all night and tried to be helpful but kept falling back asleep without knowing it.  Luckily, Nate had a great nurse who stayed on top of his pain and got the fever down.  Next thing I knew, it was 8am and Nate was sleeping soundly.

This morning, they took out the IVs he had in each hand and the arterial line he had in his wrist.  Hooray for free hands!  He has been sitting up all day watching TV (he even quietly sang the Phineas and Ferb theme song this morning) and playing a little.  They took his catheter out (another big HOORAY) and we took him for a short little walk.  As soon as he got up and moving, his chest tube drained a ton of fluid...that is a good thing.  The chest tube is his last "extra tube" and as soon as that comes out, he will be on his way to being discharged.  They will remove the chest tube as soon as the drainage from it slows down.

His lungs are a little crackly...also normal...so we are having him sit up, blow bubbles, we will have him walk again in a bit, and we are gently percussing his back to break some of that stuff up.  We have to help him get that stuff out of his lungs so it doesn't sit in there and cause an infection.  He has been taking sips of water and juice today and will slowly build up to eating.

Pretty great progress considering he came out of surgery less than 24 hours ago!!  Such a little champ!  Softie is faithfully by his side, helping him every step of the way.