All Closed Up

Today they closed the incision on Sam’s chest!  There was a chance that it was going to be done yesterday, but Dr. Kirshbom decided to wait until today to give Sam’s body a chance to expel more of the excess fluids and to give him another day to rest.  In addition to closing his chest, they removed one of the chest tubes he needed… one down, a bunch more to go.

Sam is still doing great.  His heart rate is a little high, but we’re told this can be expected as his body and heart are adjusting to the change in pressure in his chest now that the incision is closed.  It has been slowly coming down, and all his other numbers are good, so no one is worried.

What’s next?  Well, now that little Sam is put back together again, he’ll get another full day of rest tomorrow, and then they will start trying to wean him from his oxygen tube.  This could take one to two days to do.  After that they will start removing the chest lines and wires that are being used for drainage and monitoring.  He’ll still use the NG tube for feeding, and once he sustains a full feed through this, he can go to the cardiac step-down unit.  This could all possibly happen by the end of the week.  Once he’s in step-down, we’re going to see if he passes a swallow study.  If he does, we hope to get the NG tube removed and start feeding him by mouth.  This is all what we’re hoping, but there’s a lot of “ifs” involved.

About Max… remember Sam’s brother Max?  He’s been such a good “little” brother during Sam’s adventure.  He caught a little cold after Sam was in the hospital, but he’s quickly recovering from it.  We wonder if he misses Sam’s baby pterodactyl calls and the way Sam always made Max giggle when they were in their “jumpies” together.  We’re trying to show them pictures of each other while they’re apart, and we give Max updates on how his brother is doing.  Also, when we can talk to Sam, we tell him how much Max loves and misses him.  I’m sure Max is thinking of Sam in his own way.

Until the next update, thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers!