Short Version: Praise
the Lord-We are going Home!
Detailed version: For the record-I'm writing the detailed
version to have a record for Nolan when he gets older. I've enjoyed reading my mom's detailed,
handwritten versions of some of my hospital excursions and wanted to leave that
legacy for Nolan if he so desired.
This experience here in the hospital with Nolan has been
amazing! Simply Amazing!
Amazing that from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm Sunday, Nolan had NO
pain meds-or more importantly, didn't need them.
Amazing that last night before bed, all he had was
"regular" children's Tylenol (as opposed to Tylenol with Codeine) and
he slept all night with just a bit of stirring and dreaming.
Amazing that he was walking around the hospital yesterday to
go to the play room and wasn't tethered to any IV or machines.
Amazing that after 4 days post-op we are going home!
So I didn't go into any detail regarding Saturday's
events. Saturday was a huge day for us
with the pulling of the chest tubes, removing the central line and starting on
bland solid food Saturday evening. Nolan
had two chest tubes placed inside of him to drain excess fluid from around the
lungs. These tubes drained into two
chambers at the end of his bed and each shift nurse could measure the amount of
fluid being drained from either Nolan's left or right side.
So a little before 9am, Dr. Nasirov's assistant-Nichole came
to tell us they would be removing both chest tubes! We had been under the impression that it
would probably only be one. (We later
learned that our nurse Karen discussed with her to either remove both or none
because Nolan has some anxiety when it comes to removing IV's, medical tape
etc. So I guess after checking the chest
x-rays and with both lungs clear-it was decided both could be removed). A little bit before, they gave Nolan some
pain meds . A child life specialist came
up to help distract Nolan (it didn't help-by then he was on to us). We did our best to distract him as Nichole
removed the bandages (Nolan is very sensitive to the tape removal) then the
stitches from on tube. Because Nolan was
a bit "worked up", we had to take a few practice deep breaths. Then Nichole pulled on tube out. It was inside Nolan about six inches. She
started working on the other one. When
she went to pull that tube out, it kept coming...and coming....and she paused
at one point & then pulled and it "popped" out splattering blood
on her dress, the blankets, some of child life's toys....it was actually
amusing and Nolan loves to tell the story of the "blood squirting
everywhere". That tube was inside
Nolan at least 12 inches!
The removal of the central line in the neck was not as
exciting-but Nolan did have issues when the tape was coming off. It seems to be all about the tape.
Uncle Russ came to visit Saturday evening. He had dinner with us and even stayed the
night in the trailer.
Saturday night Nolan slept better-which helped Mom and Dad
sleep better too (for the most part).
Around 5:30am, I was in the chair and noticed Nolan tugging on the tape
for his pulse ox and then he pulled the whole thing off. He was still asleep, but the alarm sounded
and I got up to put it back on his finger before his nurse came in to see what
the problem was. After I had it
reattached and the monitor registered that it was working, I noticed the tape
on his other hand was flopping around and then noticed that his IV was out of
his hand. About this time Scott had
woken up, so he went to get the nurse and we just took the IV off. So now Nolan was down to just one IV-heplock
in his right hand.
Uncle Russ returned Sunday morning and stayed until Grammy
and Aunt Susan came with Leah. The smile
on Nolan's face when he saw Leah was priceless!
I'm sorry I didn't have my camera ready. Nolan walked with Leah to the playroom and
they did a craft there, then when we returned to our room, some new visitors
had arrived. Grandma GG, Mema and
Grandpa were here. We all visited in
Nolan's room for a bit and then it was tie for our visitors to leave and get
some rest.
Grammy and Aunt Susan came back to visit around 4:15. Scott and I were able to sneak down to the
trailer while Susan and Grammy entertained Nolan. We picked up the trailer, made dinner and
just took a break from "hospital stuff" for a little over an hour. When we returned, Nolan's dinner had been
served so we all had dinner together, visiting a little longer and then Aunt
Susan and Grammy went to the trailer to stay the night. Nolan seemed comfortable and wasn't
complaining of any pain, so Scott I discussed what meds to give Nolan that night
with his nurse. His last dose of pain
meds had been at 8:30 that morning. We
decided to try just regular Tylenol.
Nolan fell asleep by 9:00 and slept until sometime after 6:00 am. He didn't wake up, just wriggled a bit and
talked in his sleep. At one point this
morning he said in his sleep, "I did it!" I'd like to think he was talking about his
heart surgery :)
Ok. Time to shut down
the computer & get packing. Thank
you all for your thoughts, prayers, and messages. I'll post photos later once I get them up on the computer.
Leah's 8th birthday! She LOVES horses now-so Mema's cake was "horse" themed.
What our family spent doing on New Year's Day. We were at Uncle Russ's house! I think New Year's in Pollock Pines is becoming our new tradition.
Scott and the kids planned a 40th Birthday party for me with a few friends and family.
Scott, my sister & brother-in-law surprised me with a trip to Chicago! I was able to celebrate with my sister being alive 40 years! And as a bonus-I got too see the her new home!
My cowboy & cowgirl 
Leah was in "hog-heaven" visiting our friend Kendall and getting to ride one of her horses-Red.
Yes...that is Leah riding a horse-by HERSELF!
Nolan and his "fresh squeezed" orange juice stand. He also was selling rocks and various other articles.
Leah had a lemonade stand and also sold rocks and various articles. You can't see it-but she wrote out a name for her stand "Base Goods"
Dad & Uncle Russ have been teaching the kids archery. They are loving it!
They dyed Easter Eggs with Mema this year-but both kids agreed they missed doing it with their cousins. Perhaps Mia, Sophie & Grant can come next year.
They did enjoy their other cousins on Easter though-Marcus & Grace.
