Friday, September 9, 2011

Day 9 mid-day update

Today started out rough again with a 6am blood draw - poor Ethan screamed & screamed that it hurt & that the lights were too bright & that he just wanted to go back to sleep. It's hard to see him be in pain & not be able to help him - that's definitely starting to get old for me.  Speaking of pain, he hasn't complained of any in several days, other than saying it hurts his throat to cough.

The blood lab showed he was still a little low on potassium still so we tried hiding it in a glass of sweet tea but that still didn't work.

In rounds this morning, today's cardiologist seems a little more aggressive with treatment (in a good way)! He was surprised Ethan's still on nearly max dosage of Lasix so he nearly cut it in half, still by IV today, but only every 12 hours instead of every 8. This should also help with the potassium issue :)

Also for today, he wants to start weaning the oxygen so we can get out of here sooner rather than later. We're also supposed to continue working on keeping Ethan active & do more breathing therapy to help expand lung volume & decrease fluid. Ethan's down to .2L since about 9am & has been doing great so far with says staying above 92!

Ethan walked all the way to the elevator, rode it down from the 5th floor to the basement, walked down the hall to have his chest X-ray, then walked all the way back to his room without tiring out (about 30 min total) which is huge for him for being only 8 days post-op! We are quite a site walking through the halls pulling our wagon loaded down with a portable oxygen tank, monitor & all the wires & oxygen cannula. It really slows us down but Ethan's being very patient & cooperative.

Time for lunch, rest time, then up to the playroom at 2! Will update again later. Thanks for all your continued prayers!

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