Wednesday Morning, 8/29/07

They finally moved Nathan into his own room in another pediatric (non-ICU) wing. He's doing well, continuing to rid his body of the sedatives. The next week or so will probably be very boring (blog-wise). The coming days will focus on his continued healing and weaning, leading up to the surgery to "fix him back up". Alyssa will be going up this evening to visit him, hopefully he's alert and responsive.

Tuesday Morning, 8/28/07

Not much happened yesterday except for more gradual recovery. Nathan's procedure for the new tube went fine, but they gave him a couple doses of [some sedative I can't remember] and it had him fairly incapacitated. I went by for a few hours in the evening but he was asleep the whole time. No complaints, I managed to read 1/3 of the Snort Cookbook (Intrusion Detection stuff, for geeks only).

Christa went to the hospital early again this morning. I haven't heard much from her on updates, other than they expect Nathan to be moved to his own room in the ICM (ICU wing) sometime today. This will be nice, at it allows us to bring Alyssa in for visits.

Oh, and Christa sent me this picture from her phone. Does that smile just melt your heart or what?

Monday Morning, 8/27/07

I forgot to mention that a couple of really good things happened Saturday night / Sunday morning while I was at the hospital. First, Nathan's ostomy bag filled with gas a couple times. This suggests his small intestine is starting to work, and if so, is really good news. Second, he actually had a poop in his diaper. This does not mean he's digesting food, because, well, he isn't eating anything. In reality, it just means he's passed something that was already in there, pre-surgery. Nevertheless, it's still good to see that his bowel seems to be kicking into gear.

Christa spent most of Sunday with him at the hospital. He's still in the main ICU area (with the nurse's station), but they think he'll be moving into his own room sometime on Monday (maybe). He's doing well but still suffering withdrawals from the sedatives. This will last for quite some time, as we're expecting to take home medication in pill form to continue weaning him off his addiction.

One of the more difficult things to manage lately has been a diversity of information provided to us from the doctors and surgeons. Even among different physicians of the same team, we receive wildly varying recovery schedules and planned courses of treatment. One surgeon has told us that Nathan would be going home with an ostomy bag; an attending has said he would go back into surgery and be "whole" when he checks out; another attending said he'll be eating a couple weeks after he leaves; one surgeon said he'd be eating by Thanksgiving. We expect a range of opinions from the different staff members, but some of these predictions seem worlds apart.

They wheeled him down to Interventional Radiation this morning to insert a new tube near his arm. This will replace one he already has, making it easier to control his nutritional input. He should be getting back soon.

Saturday Evening, 8/25/07

Nathan is finally getting some well-deserved rest. His regular schedule of chest "massages" to relieve the build-up of mucus in his lungs doesn't leave much time for sleep. I'll be staying overnight with him. I brought along my laptop, which turned out to be a really good idea. He's fallen asleep both times I've started to play Toy Story 2 for him.

Nite buddy.

Saturday Morning, 8/25/07

It's hard to believe Nathan has been in the hospital for three weeks. Although his recovery is a week behind where we hoped it would be, we're overjoyed that he's progressing smoothly now. Christa stayed with him all day yesterday and through the evening. She says he looks fantastic now; the swelling in his face is down and he looks just like the "old Nathan". His breathing is doing so well that they removed the mask and he's now breathing completely on his own. The surgical team is very pleased with his current state of recovery.

Jessica (our babysitter) is coming by today to watch over Alyssa so we can both go to visit him. I can't wait to see my little boy. I will probably stay the night with him tonight. The attending told Christa yesterday there's a chance that his sister will be able to visit him on Sunday. This tells me there's a decent chance he'll be moved to a regular room soon! I'm trying not to cry, I'm such a wuss. :)