❤️ Update 11/27 6:45 pm

Look at his closed chest 😊

I was sitting in the room as Ethan was being wheeled back into his room. I removed myself to stay out of the way. He looked good as I walked by. His color was good.  His chest was together, no more “zombie from a horror film” vibe.

About an hour later I popped back up and they were still working with him. His heart rate was fast 152 and his blood pressure was low, 78/36. There were many adjustments to his medications.  

He does have pacing wires so they can zap him if they need to. So cool. These wires are very small and are attached to the appropriate locations, the wires exit the body. They just pull them out externally when he doesn’t need them anymore.

He is down to only 10 pumps on his pump stand. His 4 chest tubes are draining at a normal rate.  

There was some discussion about the pacing machine not working as it should? Well that sounds bad doesn’t it?  I looked at the doctors faces. They were perplexed but not concerned if that makes any sense. No reason to panic. They seem to have it under control.

Three doctors later and they figured it out after trial and error. The machine was being “finicky”. Good thing they noticed.  Who wants a “finicky” machine pacing their heart. That sounds like torture really. New machine, working normally, problem solved.

Ethan is comfortable. His job is to rest. His blood pressure has come into the normal range. He did wake up briefly and asked where he was and gave a quick thumbs up. He also was trying to get off the bed to go to the bathroom. Ha!  This kid.

He is now on a paralytic medication so he can’t try to get up. This will really rest his heart so it only needs to do the bare minimum over the next few days. Hopefully he will get his breathing tube out Monday or Tuesday. He will finally be able to communicate.  You may see me begging the doctors to turn the paralytic back on, or to give me some.

He has started to develop a fever. They are running daily blood cultures and blood work every 6 hours to make sure he doesn’t get a systemic infection since he has no immune system right now.

I have dinner on the way and I ordered myself a margarita. I feel I have earned it after this week.

Wishing the happiest birthday to my nephew, Jason.  🥳 🎂