Surgery Journey in Pictures and Words

I finally found a few hours to compile photos and reflect on the past couple of months, and put together this album/video of Connie's path to and through his 3rd open heart surgery. Again, we can't thank you enough for your prayers during this time!

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Day 1 at Home

Connie spent the day catching up with his siblings and grandparents he hasn't seen in a week and playing with the toys and games he missed while he was gone. He moves a tiny bit slower than normal and you can tell he's sort of gingerly walking around, but he seems to be almost himself otherwise. He's even a little sweeter. We know from the past that when his heart doesn't feel well he tends to be whinier and generally not as pleasant so we are happy to see that our loving, thoughtful, kind-hearted boy is back. He didn't take any oxycodone at all today or yesterday and all he had today was two doses of motrin and one of tylenol. He has learned how to swallow pills so he's very proud of that fact and seems to prefer that to all the liquid medication he's been forced to endure the past week. Hopefully next time we get his scripts refilled he can switch to pill form. He did take a huge nap (we ALL did, actually... it was so needed!) this afternoon and got a shower. He still has quite a bit of adhesive on his belly, but it hurts him when I rub it with the detatchol so we're leaving it be until he's not so tender. We are so happy to be home and grateful for all the prayers while we were gone. We know God heard them and answered them. Here's a video of him playing tonight on the XBox... simply AMAZING! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2ME9pBvRn4&feature=plcp

We are HOME!

Connie was such a trooper for a slew of testing. He had the normal xray, ekg and echo required for discharge, along with additional echo time and a very long pacer interrogation with a machine that is new to us. It had something to do with optimization and his electrophysiologist at U of M, Dr. Bradley, is one of the few who uses it as an non-invasive method of gaining lots of info on the heart. All reports were glowing and they hope they don't have to see us for about six years! We hopped in the car at 3pm by the time all the official ppwk and prescriptions were ready and headed home. We just arrived and are crashing into bed! Thank you for the prayers!

Post Op Day #5 -AM Update

Sorry for no update last night. Connie wanted me to snuggle with him and he took forever to fall asleep. Then I was pretty tired. Yesterday was just a lay low day. He took a huge nap late in the day and then we took him to the main hospital's cafeteria and outside to eat in the courtyard. He was pretty down after that and asked to go back to the room. On the way back we snooped around a bit in the old hospital, where his previous two surgeries were. We couldn't access most of the 5th floor, but just seeing it and looking down the hallway brought back a flood of memories. And if anyone would ever complain about "life" in the new place, they would just need one look at the old one and they'd quickly count their blessings! Once he got back to his room we started to see his sparkle back in his eyes. He wanted to tickle fight and "box" me with his feet. Basically he kicked while I pretended to punch him. He reluctantly took a shower (he wanted a bath) and got all cleaned up and weighed before climbing back in bed for a movie. He was up late since he took such a long nap. He finally fellasleep sometime after 11:15 or so. Our boy was up bright and early this morning and we visited the playroom for 50 minutes of bowling sets and Wii baseball and bowling. He just ate some dry cereal for breakfast and is back in bed watching Toy Story 3. The plan today is just to hang out and wait to be taken down the hall for discharge studies. Hopefully everything looks good and we can get out of here tomorrow morning.

Post Op Day #4 midday update

connie got his three chest tubes removed just after 10am. He had to abstain from food and drink until after the procedure, but it was worth it. He was rewarded with a jalapeno bagel and chocolate long john! They gave him a little morphine/versed concoction prior to, but it didn't stop the tears and begging them to stop. Hopefully he won't remember. Neither nurse could believe how far in his left pleural tube was. No wonder his back hurt! He watched a movie and then got up to walk to the playroom where he played Wii for about 30 min. and facetimed Mookie, Karsten and Grandma Marybelle. I could tell he was feeling better already because his pace playing the games was faster and he was even talking some to others in the playroom. He asked to go back to his room and lay down so we did. He ordered chili with jalapenos (Dad went to Subway to get him some peppers!) and jello and a gatorade. Now he's watching a movie and will probably nap soon. He hasn't had any oxycodone all day! He's alternating tylenol and Motrin. Tomorrow he will undergo all of the necessary tests and if they all check out, he will be discharged shortly after. He has no more lines in him and is only on the monitors. Aside from pain control meds, he's on enalapril (like pre-surgery), meds to help his belly move things along, and oral lasix. He's already at his dry weight, but they want to make sure he doesn't puff up now that he's off IV diuretics. Thanks for keeping him in your prayers. They are being answered!