Caution: Slow Children

Ford has regained some dignity today with the removal of the piece of masking tape that had been stuck to his chest since the surgery, on which the surgeon had hastily written in ball-point pen: Sternum Open! While I am generally all in favour of ad-hoc approaches to problem solving, there was something a little dubious about this one, and there were several moments over the weekend where I sucked my breath in anticipation as the nurse put a hand on his chest while she wiped his mouth or adjusted his respirator. Eduction, training, and complete knowledge of his condition aside, compounded on the fact that you could see his heart actively pumping just beneath the line of stitches, I was on the verge of blurting out - can't you read the sign!? I think it might have reminded me a little too much of the times I was painting houses and would write similar warnings on masking tape: Wet Paint! and people would go right ahead and smear their hands all over it.

Oops.

He has been cleaned up quite a bit this morning and he looked like a peacefully sleeping baby instead of a gruesome science project (Christa might disagree with me on the science project thing, but she's not here to argue). Although he is still getting a significant amount of help with is breathing and oxygen saturation levels (max dose of milrinone, nitric oxide, 45% oxygen, 'peep' of 9 - that's for all you budding respiratory therapists out there) we are told that he is 'very slowly' stabalizing. The chest closure yesterday was rougher on him than anticipated, mostly with respect to his lungs, which are struggling against the sudden constriction of the chest cavity. They are in the process of weening him off as much of it as they can today, and depending on how well he copes we should be moving back to the relative comfort of the NICU in a few days time.

He was waking up to hiccups just as I left to come write this and I'm sure he is blowing his 'happy bubbles' (or: thick, white, sticky - again for all you budding RTs) right now, through the haze of multiple sedatives.