Priming the Pump

Hooray! Zack's cardiologist gave him a clean bill of health this evening, and we were discharged around 7:45. We arrived home about 45 minutes later. Zack was excited to be home, and spent a few minutes surveying his new LEGO kits before hitting the hay.

Zack is completely off prescription medication now. The only meds he needs to take are: an aspirin once a day (for six weeks) and either ibuprofen or acetaminophen for pain as needed. He has no dietary restrictions and can resume normal activity. The only exceptions to his activity are anything that could cause trauma to his sternum. This means no monkey bars, bicycling or contact sports for at least 6-8 weeks. He may be able to resume swimming once his scar has healed completely — we need to keep it dry to prevent infection until then.

We are so proud of Zack for being both mentally and physically tough during the whole process. He really has been a trooper. We couldn't ask for a better outcome!

Posted by Chris at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning, Zack's surgeon said he might be able to go home this evening. The good news gave Zack an incentive to get up and walk around a bit this morning. He walked to the playroom down the hall on his own, where he got to check out the toys, computers and paints. After that, he requested a wheel chair ride that was "really fast." He got the wheel chair part, but not the "really fast" part. We wheeled him around the hospital, and showed him the gift shop, the cafeteria and the "ball machine" in the foyer. He also went outside briefly to get some sun and check out the water garden.

He is really excited about the prospect of going home. He has been talking about building Lego kits and playing video games all day. Hopefully we'll get the green light from his cardiologist later today!

Posted by Chris at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

It is just past 6 a.m. and we've been up since 4:30 with some pain. However, since the pain medicine kicked in, he was able to sit up in a wheelchair this morning and transfer to a chair for a chest x-ray.

We're back in the room and he didn't feel like going back to bed, I guess he's enjoying the euphoria while it lasts. He wanted to stay seated in the wheelchair and watch Pokemon on tv and is doing well now. We'll see the surgeon again this morning for an update.

Looking back on yesterday, we had ups and downs. After his tubes were out he slept several hours. We were transferred to the intermediate care unit where I was apprehensive at first without the comfort of all the monitors. He's still on monitors, just without all the bells and whistles and tubes. There are only seven kids on this ward so the care is still very good but he is expected to do more here.

He woke up to see a balloon across the room given to him by Calvin and Donna Lee and their daughter Callie. He opened his eyes and focused on the frog and said..."Is that balloon for me? Can I hold it?" He felt well enough to hold it in bed for about 30 minutes and then wanted it tied to his bed.

Around 6 p.m. yesterday evening his grandpa Pops and Pat arrived. This thrilled him and he was pleasant for the entire evening.

Posted by Holli at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Zack's surgeon removed all of his tubes this afternoon. It wasn't a particularly pleasant experience, unfortunately. However, they gave him some Versed to calm him down and (more importantly) forget about the discomfort. He still has an IV for medication, but he's free of most of the encumbrance now.

Zack also sat up with assistance this afternoon. This helped clear additional fluid from his chest and paved the way for the removal of his chest tube.

Posted by Chris at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Zack is making marked improvement today. He even feels well enough to play his Nintendo DS. They probably will pull his chest tubes, central line and catheter today. And, we may be able to move out of the ICU into the intermediate care unit if all goes well. He got a good report from both the cardiologist and the surgeon this morning, so things are moving in the right direction. There's a chance we may be able to go home Saturday (no guarantees though).

Posted by Chris at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Just a little more than 12 hours after surgery, Zack is in the ICU resting comfortably. He continues to complain of thirst, which is normal, and is demanding ginger ale instead of the two to three ice chips he is allowed every 10 minutes.

Looking at him, it is difficult to believe that his heart was stopped for a time today for some much needed repair work.

We continue to be amazed by his progress.

Hard to believe it, but we even got a good smile out of him this afternoon. I'm sure more will come our way tomorrow.

Posted by Holli at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Zack is stabilized and is doing great. He's all set up in the ICU and has two nurses taking care of him. His sinus rhythm is normal, which means his heart is pumping normally. So far, he hasn't need a pacemaker (although one is ready just in case). He has been talking a bit, but sleeping most of the time. His only complaint is thirst -- we'll be able to give him water once his digestive system wakes up. Until then, he'll be getting fluids via IV.

Here he his with all his lines and monitoring equipment:

Nurse Anke checking his lines:

He's on the good stuff, and feeling no pain:

Here are his vitals. From top to bottom: heartbeat (green), respiration (pink), blood pressure (red), blood oxygen (light blue):

Things are looking good! He'll probably be pretty groggy until tomorrow. We'll post more updates once he is more alert.

Posted by Chris at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)