Isaac's Recovery - Night 1/Day 2 Post Op

Last night was a loooong night! Isaac essentially did not sleep from about 10pm on surgery day (Jan 15th) until about 10pm last night. He was awake (for the most part) for 24 hours. He talked nonstop. Our topics of the evening were, "If I take a nap, I can have a straw," "Real big pieces of ice," and "She need-a go bye-bye," (generally referring to his nurse, and anyone else that came in the room to come close to him). Gigi stayed the night with us, and made sure that mommy got some sleep. I bet Gigi hasn't pulled an all nighter like that for quite some time!

The latter part of the day yesterday, we had a hard time keeping Isaac's pain under control, as well as the fact that he was pretty overstimulated from all of the activity and people. While he was in the PICU,  the nurses were in on average every 45 minutes, so it's pretty understandable that he didn't get a lot of sleep while he was there. Then, he had a pretty intensive breathing treatment, followed by sitting on the edge of the bed, then was transferred out to the general orthopedic floor, then the nurses would have to come and turn him, and so on and so forth. By the time the evening rolled around, he pretty much in no fewer words told everyone they needed to go home, grandparents included. At one point, while I (Kristi) was here by myself, he told me I needed to go home. Throughout all of this he was experiencing very high heartrate episodes (tachycardia) which was generally 155 - 180bpm's, low oxygen saturations (nothing too alarming, but in the 80's, so they put him back on oxygen - which they took him off of this morning), and the occasional rapid respiratory rate. By about 10pm, his night nurse came in to reposition him, gave him some additional pain meds, it was shortly after that he settled right down, and his heartrate came back down into the 115 - 125bpm range, his oxygen saturations sat at 98%, so all was well. I gave his nurse a huge hug, and shed a few tears. It was the best part of my day to see him resting peacefully.

Through the night Isaac started to swell, which is very common post surgery, although, looking at his little feet, all I could remember is how bad my feet hurt from all of the swelling after my c-section with them. I remember them burning, itching and feeling like if they came into contact with any sharp object, they would rupture! His poor little feet look just about the same way...

As for Eli, his is overall doing very well. However, yesterday, Jaime (the boys most wonderful nanny), let us know that Eli had a very runny nose... So, he will not be up here at CMH any time soon, in hopes that we can let him keep that cold to himself, and not share it with his brother. Other than that, Eli asks if Isaac is coming home to sleep and has had a few other questions. We showed him a picture of Isaac, similar to the one above, and he got a sad face, gave me a big hug, and then asked for more blueberries for dessert. He knows that Isaac is at the hospital to 'fix his back,' and that he's going to be here for a few days. Isaac hasn't asked much at all about Eli, other than asking to go home. I am sure that stems from being under anesthesia and heavy duty painkillers. :)

Eli has also gotten to go on several adventures this week with Jaime and her son Tristan. He was so excited to tell me about his playdate on Tuesday with Delaney. Jaime had sent us pictures of Eli playing with the toy baby carrier, stroller, wearing a Louis Vuitton purse and wearing a pink headband. He was very charming looking!

Today (Day 2, Post Op) - Isaac is resting very comfortably. Ryan got back to the hospital this morning around 7am, and the business began! We had the pain management team, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, and a whole slew of other people that I have no idea of what team they were part of.

Isaac has 'sat' up for about an hour today, although the entire time he was either sleeping or telling us to not talk, or to leave. He has been getting very hung up on wanting a drink of water, and then when we get the cup and straw over to him, saying "water all gone" and crying, without trying to take a drink. He is bound and determined to convince us that "all of the water is at Isaac's house." Poor kid!

Hopefully in the next day or two, he'll get unhooked from his IV's and we can wheel him to the playroom, or to one of his favorite places in the hospital, where he can push the buttons on the wall, and it makes the lights on the ceilings change colors. He also loves the cafeteria, so perhaps we'll make it down there with him one of these mealtimes before we're discharged.

Prayer requests: For Isaac's swelling to reduce, Eli to continue to feel better, Isaac's appetite (as he will be allowed to eat tonight, and we REALLY are pulling for him to have stronger appetite, as we do not want to end up with an NG tube), Isaac's incisions to heal, and for his body to not have any complications with any of the hardware that was used during his surgery.

We also want to sincerely thank our parents and Jaime, as they have really enabled us to care for Isaac as he needs to be cared for, as well as really keeping Eli's schedule as routine as we can. We are very lucky to have the people in our lives that we have. Much love to you all.

Love -