STARTING THE MORNING OUT RIGHT...........

The night went well. Cooper did great but was awake often. He is requiring morphine about every 2 hours for pain right now. He is not telling us he hurts verbally but his breathing and heart rate are indicating it. The cardiac team just rounded and they have turned the pacemaker off for now to see how he does. He has some PVC (premature ventricle contraction) but other than that seems to be doing well. His heart rate is a little lower than it was with the pacemaker but as long as his perfusion (color) stays good, they will leave it off. They will be taking the next step in removing his drainage tubes by changing them to bulbs. Basically they just cut down these long drainage tubes and put a "bulb" on the end to collect the blood. After this step they remove them but it could still be a day or so before they are out. So again great progress for Coop!!!

I did not mention one of my concerns yesterday because I was really trying to barry it in my mind. Cooper is not responding to directions, i.e. "Cooper look at Mommy", "Cooper do you want to watch cartoons", etc. Every time he goes under his chances of brain damage increase. Late last night he seemed fully awake but yet would hardly make eye contact with me. I could not help but be very concerned. The nurse reminded me that it has been a very difficult couple days for him but also validated my concern. I couldn't help but cry. Can you imagine if the Cooper we take home isn't the same funny, sweet, energetic Cooper that we brought? I just can't! About 4 a.m. this morning when he awoke and I got up to hold his hand he called out to me about 3 times. This is a very good sign. I am still cautious though and really hope that he will start to interact with us so I know he is still the same little boy.

This time we are so much busier than in the past. We used to sit days with nothing to do but Cooper needs us so much this time. There is hardly a minute that we are not holding his hand or trying to talk to him. It is great to be needed! The nurse said this visit would be much more exhausting for us because he would need us much more than he did in the past surgeries, but I disagree. It is exhausting to sit and have no idea how you can help and watch him just lay there. I would much rather chase him around, hold his hand or anything else.

Well we are moving rooms so I have to go. We are moving to room 17 which is further away from the nurses station which is good news, it means we are not as critical anymore.....YEA!