What a Difference a Day Makes

Dominic is doing GREAT today! He finally pooped late last night. I never thought I would be so happy to change a dirty diaper. He felt much better after that. He woke up this morning and drank 4 1/2 oz. and then ate his first solid food since surgery. Then I nursed him and he did great. I think they are still concerned about his nutrition since his albumin was so low, so of course the peds team sent the nutritionist down to talk to me. Although I know it wasn't the case, it sort of felt like my care for him was being questioned. Why isn't he eating more? You need to make sure he eats a certain amount every few hours. First of all, isn't that why he's here? So that the doctors and nurses can monitor that? I'm used to feeding him when he's hungry. And second, if he's not hungry or if he's going to just throw it all up (like he did yesterday), I'm not going to force it down his throat. But, whatever. Now I have to make sure he drinks at least 4 oz formula/breast milk every 2-3 hours. And I can't nurse him, because they can't measure it. So, the pumping continues...

Mmm...applesauce

Hanging with Dad

He loves Lion

Dr. Chugani came in today to check on him and was very pleased with how well he's doing. They took out his EVD so he is drain free! He needs to be closely monitored over the next couple days to make sure his body is absorbing the fluid on it's own. He has this nasty sore on the back of his neck from the clamp during surgery. Then, the had him laying on that side after surgery so he wasn't laying on the stitches. But the poor thing, it must have rubbed against the sheets and now it's a big sore. Another warning for those who faint easily, there are a couple graphic pics below. You don't have to look at them, because they're sort of gross. But I'm weird and I guess I think it's sort of cool. They also took away one of the IV fluids, so he only has one IV left. He's still getting a lot of his meds through IV, but that might change over the next few days. He was also very happy to see how smiley and alert Dominic is. He even started laughing today! We finally see our little boy coming back and living SEIZURE-FREE! I wish we could just jump to 2 months from now and skip this whole recovering process. But, we're getting there, day by day.

With Dr. "Rock Star" Chugani

The dreaded EVD

Nasty little bruise turned sore from the clamp during surgery

Removing his EVD

Taking out the staples...ouch!

Ahhh, morphine

A visit from Diana

It's crazy how much better he seems today. Below are two videos. One was from the second day post-op and the other is from this morning. He's much happier today.