This morning, Asher didn’t want to go to sleep again after his 6 a.m. wake up for his pleural caths so we were up for an early start to the day. He had a harder time sleeping last night too, but I think the early sunrise and big windows make it hard for him to go back to sleep. He was happy to see his nurse friend Jess was his nurse for the day, even though he moans and whimpers every time she walks in the room. The cardiologist stopped by and said Asher’s numbers for his pleural cath output were continuing to trend down, and because they had gone so much lower they didn’t think he would need open heart surgery. That was the best news of all! They still are a little high, so they are going ahead with the cath tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. The whole cardiology team will be by on rounds in the morning to make a final decision, but we are prepping him as if he has the cath tomorrow. I was a bit frustrated and fought them as much as I could on the 1:00 p.m. time. That means he can’t eat anything after 2:00 a.m. and nothing to drink after 6:00 a.m. It is going to be a long day for a four-year-old as he waits for his cath. I questioned her on the 6:00 a.m. time because for his previous cath he could drink water up to two hours before, but she didn’t change the order. I will ask her again in the morning.
Today’s pleural cath numbers continued to decline. He had 88 yesterday, and today’s total was 67. The other good news from the cardiologist was that we should be able to go home within a couple days after the cath, by Thursday or Friday. They have been training me on how to do the pleural cath drains, and Asher’s nurse had me do his 6:00 p.m. one by myself today. I’ve watched them do it thousands of times so I already had a pretty good idea of what to do, but it helped to pull on the syringe and get an idea of how it feels when there is more fluid, and how it feels when it is all gone.
The day was spent as usual – playing Wii, reading books, coloring, putting together another Lego set, going to the children’s garden, and watching some TV. Asher came with me to the workout room so I could run on the treadmill while he watched a show. He also walked with me over to the café in the hospital so I could grab something for dinner, but that was a mistake because he saw some donuts in the window and then wanted one, which he couldn’t have with the high fat in those. Luckily he was quickly distracted and seemed content with the watermelon I bought him instead.
My parents came up for a couple of hours before they left to go home, and I hurried home and finished getting Landon’s stuff ready for outdoor school, helped Davis finish his Walt Disney timeline for school, helped James work on some homework, and started a load of laundry before coming back up. I am so grateful for my mom and all that she has done for us this past two weeks. She has taken care of laundry, homework, meals, bedtimes, baseball games, etc. for the last two weeks so that I didn’t have to worry about anything at home. She does it happily without complaining, and the kids all love having her there, and it helps them not notice me gone as much when she is around and keeps the routines and things the same at home. We will miss her the next few days, but Shane’s mom is here and can help a bit, Stacey is going to take Madeleine for a couple of days, and lots of friends have offered to take Davis and James after school.
This evening, Asher wanted to go exploring, so we went to every floor of the hospital. Some we had been to before, but some we hadn’t stopped at. They all look pretty much the same, but he had fun exploring and visiting each one. We especially enjoyed the view of Portland and the sunset from the eighth floor before we headed down for his vitals and last meds before bed. Wish us luck tomorrow with the no eating/drinking and the cath! Hopefully he isn’t too upset about it.
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