Early to Rise

Mike and I both stayed in Dominic's hospital room last night which actually wasn't too bad. During all of our previous hospital stays, Dominic is fussy, sick of lying down, and has a hard time sleeping. However, the past several days because of coming off the surgery and being on morphine, Tylenol 3 and Motrin, he's pretty quiet. He doesn't cry unless he's in a lot of pain. So, we both actually got quite a bit of sleep last night. The only times we woke up where when the nurses came in. Dominic spiked a fever a couple times so we had to cool him off with cold wash clothes until the meds kicked in. But other than that, I didn't wake up until the docs rounded at 7:20.

I was concerned that Dominic wasn't being as responsive as he should. Again, he's been through major brain surgery, but I just wasn't sure how he should be at this point. I emailed Dr. Chugani (who is on vacation) and he promptly emailed me back saying that the first 3-4 days he'll sleep most of the time. It probably won't be until days 6-7 that he is more alert and start acting more like himself.  That is good to know and so for now, I'll stop tyring to make him smile and just let him rest.

The neurosurgery team came in around 10:00 this morning to remove his first drain. That was quite an experience. I've included some photos below, but I will warn you they are a little graphic. So, if you have a queasy stomach, you have been fairly warned! They took off his head wrap and you could actually see the tube under his skin. They pulled it out of a little hole above his ear and stitched it back up. He seems a little happier now that it's out. He still has his EVD that is much deeper into his skull that won't come out for a few more days. But they are not going to wrap his head again. They actually said they have found the incision heals better once the wrap is off. They also told us to clean him up. So Mike and I, ever so gently, have been wiping all the dried blood and iodine and stuff from around the incision. He's sleeping now and I think just getting that hot wrap and the tube out from under his skin will make him feel much better. I just can't wait to hold him! Hopefully by the end of the day we'll try again after he gets his shot of morphine.

Crazy what it looked like when the wrap came off

New nickname is Frankenstein

Even though it looks gross, the swelling is minimal and incision looks good

Removing the first drain from under the skin

Cleaning him up

Mike did great even though blood makes him squirm

We are really glad to be out of ICU and on a regular floor with kids with the flu and other minor ailments. Mike and I both realized after being in there for a couple days that if we ever start feeling sorry for ourselves, we need to go back and spend a day walking around the ICU. Seeing 3 week old babies with huge incisions on their chest, on feeding and breathing tubes and several IV's or the preemie babies who have no parents come to visit them, hold them, kiss them, or love them. Or like one little boy, who has been in there for 6 weeks waiting on a heart and kidney transplant - who has already undergone several surgeries and been to several hospitals around the country. We feel incredibly blessed that Dominic was probably one of the healthiest kids in ICU, despite having half his brain removed. God is good and his bringing great healing and comfort to our little man. Each day we seem him getting a little better, a little stronger and a little less puffy. I can't wait to see where he'll be two weeks from now, two months from now and two years from now. Hopefully he'll all surprise us and show us just how much he can do with just half a brain.

CT scan with only half a brain. The dark and light spots are blood/fluid