Day Six Post Op

(Tickets to the Spaghetti supper are available at the West End Grill on Rockdale Ave in New Bedford or you can contact Pam Richard on Facebook or by calling 774-202-7041. Thanks, guys!!)

Well, it was a pretty quiet night. I spent time with Addison. (She is sleeping at Tim's dad's house in Brockton so she isn't too far away from me!) Tim slept here last night. It was nice not to be alone. We had quite a bit of visitors yesterday, and I am expecting the same today. They are going to re-tape his breathing tube and then remove the last draining tube. When he wakes up, they will do what is called sprints. They turn the ventilator pressure down and allow him to really breathe on his own for about an hour, and then they let him rest for an hour and turn the ventilator pressure up a little. They will keep doing this until tomorrow so he will be prepared when they remove the breathing tube.
He is doing awesome today! At rounds, they said he could probably be extubated today, but they'll wait until tomorrow. He is completely off of the morphine, and they are spacing his methadone and ativan further apart. He is doing very well. His heart rate is still very low, (!35-140s), and he is doing pretty much all of his breathing on his own. He has been opening his eyes more and more. :) It's great to see him with his eyes open and responsive although when I talk to him, he can't find my voice. He looks everywhere. There is less and less machinery around him each day. I still can't believe that this is happening to us. It STILL seems surreal. I just want him to be 100% better. As a mother, it is the hardest thing to see. When Charlie was circumsized, I cried. I felt awful that he was in pain. Now the comparison of him being circumsized to him having open heart surgery; it's just crazy. I wish I could hold him and rock him. This is all so very hard to handle, but I am trying my hardest to keep hope, especially since each day, he does better and better. My son is the toughest person I know, and he is only 3 months old!! Although he won't remember any of this, I will, and it will NEVER leave me. You learn a new appreciaton for life and for family when something like this happens, and that is exactly what happened. I am so thankful for my son and my daughter and Timithy and everyone who has been amazing and supportive and insanely helpful through this all. You never expect a reaction this monumental from people you don't even know, but it truly is phenomenal. I want to thank everyone - our family and friends, all of those who are coming to the spaghetti supper and those who donated to the Charlie Gonneville Medical Fund, all the nurses and doctors. There is so much gratitude in my heart; words couldn't describe.

They removed the last of his drain tubes. All he has left is the pacing wires to his heart and the breathing tube. Oh, and the "A" line and the intrajugular IV that they are hoping to take out today. The "A" line and pacing wires will stay in until right before we leave the hospital. He is doing amazing today! He was WIDE AWAKE before, staring at Tim and I, wiggling all around. It was amazing!!! He tired himself out though. They put him back on the morphine drip for a little so they could remove the drain tube and fix his breathing tube. Once the morphine is worn away, they will start weaning him down on the methadone and ativan. They are also weaning him down on the lasix because he is doing so well. :D

Charlie did AWESOME with his first sprint. He did TWO HOURS before he started getting tired. They will let him rest for two hours now and then start another sprint. They will probably do this another two or three times overnight, and first thing in the morning, they will do an echocardiogram and make sure his heart can tolerate being off of the ventilator. (They said his gases came back perfect. That means during sprints and while on the ventilator, Charlie is doing just as much work and doing awesome!!) After the echo, they will let him fight the breathing tube and then take it out. They said 24-48 hours after the tube is removed, he will be moved out of the ICU!!!! :D :D :D They will wean him off of the heparin, epinephrine, methadone, and ativan, and they will introduce the captopril, adjust his lasix, and add aspirin. When his meds are at a good level, and he is eating again, they will let us go home. They are saying maybe two weeks. That is awesome. My little boy is such a fighter. He is doing so well!!!
My sister said the Revival Tour shared my blog. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing Charlie's story. It means a lot. :)
I also want to thank Tim's mother, her girlfriend, my sister, and everyone else helping out with Charlie's spaghetti supper and his donation fund. It's something that I couldn't even think to deal with right now, and knowing that everyone else is lending a hand to make things easier, it is truly amazing. <3 Thank you everyone!

Little man watching The Wizard of Oz. I spoil him and let him watch TV. lol

A painting in the hallway that I just noticed today