Day 26

It's been a busy couple of days up here... My girls were here for about an hour yesterday, on their way to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving, and they got to return today on their way back today. Even though the time was short, I loved being able to see them. I think they did really well, and they handled seeing Holden better than most adults do. They both cried a little bit when they saw him for the first time yesterday, but today he was a little more alert, and they got to see him open his eyes a little bit. They wanted to see him smile, but I think he's saving those smiles for when we get that tube out of his throat. (I wouldn't be smiling either, honestly.)

Holden had a pretty stable day yesterday, but today he's had a few changes. Most exciting of all (I think), he got his foley catheter out. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but it should be a huge bump in his comfort level. His vent has been weaned down a little bit more, so he's now on a PEEP of 5 with his FiO2 at 30%. That's a huge improvement over last week, and he seems to be handling it fairly well. They're playing around with his blood pressure and heart meds, and his sedation. He seemed to be handling that pretty well too, until he started throwing up... Evidently, he's grown fond of his narcotics, and was going through a little bit of withdrawl. We had to give him a little bit back, and he seems happy again. (I use the word "happy" loosely here... If he's asleep and not twitching or thrashing, we assume he's happy. I really hope we're right!) He went for his CT scan this morning... Nothing is wrong with his brain, but they have to do it as part of the pre-transplant workup. The neurologists came in after his scan, and wanted us to stop all of his meds for about three hours tomorrow morning so they could do a full evaluation... We told the nice doctors that was NOT happening. He doesn't respond to big changes well at all, and we're not taking the chance. (One of his doctors is making a sign for his bed here that says, "Don't rock my boat. Seriously.") Luckily, his regular doctors agreed with us, and we won't have to worry about any drug-related backslides. Then later, as he was getting his dressings changed, we noticed that one of his sutures holding a central line in his groin had popped. He had to get that stitched back up as well. All of these little things add up for him, and he's had a rough day. Right now, his sats and numbers are all holding steady, except for his CVP... That number can't seem to decide what it wants to be, which worries all of us. Hopefully, he'll have a better (read: calmer) night!

Tomorrow, I'm planning on taking my girls shopping for a little while, and I'm a little torn. I don't feel like I can be away from here very long, but I also can't stand the thought of the girls being right here, and me not getting to spend all the time I can with them. I think it will be good for all of us... I need to get out of the hospital for a little while every now and then, and being with my crazy girls does good things for my heart. :) I'll be praying for a calm morning, so I can actually make this happen!

I'll post a few pictures I took, even though I'm sure the girls would rather I didn't. :) Holden's pictures don't change much day to day, but he looked so handsome after his bath last night I had to capture the moment...