MOVING DAY.....

Wow! What a morning! Things are chaos here with fire alarms and code blues everywhere. The good news is Cooper is headed to the 4th floor later this afternoon. He is doing great and the Blue Team from the floor was just by to acquaint themselves with Cooper. Things seem to be going well with weaning him off the Ativan and Methadone. They dropped the Methadone down by 10% this morning. He shows little agitation and his blood pressure and heart rate are very good. He is staying awake much more and wanting to play just like before. His neck is still slightly weak but that will come with time.

The OT was down this morning to talk about Cooper's feeding. If they take him for a swallow test now he will fail she is quite sure and then they would proceed with more drastic feeding measures. More than likely they would look at putting a tube in his stomach surgically that we could access to feed him. Because the fact that it is the right vocal cord that appears paralyzed is somewhat troubling to the doctors. Of course, once again, Cooper has a medical condition that does not make sense. Apparently it is the left vocal cord that is sometimes paralyzed in heart patients but according to Dr. O'Brien, with Cooper's heart condition it is not common. We have discussed the fact that the cannulas were on the right side and they may have caused the damage but again Dr. O'Brien said he would be surprised. Therefore, they are opting to not proceed forward with the swallow test at this time. We will go home with the NG tube (feeding tube that goes down his nose) for 1 month. At that time we will return and NT will look again at the vocal cord and see it has recovered. We will have a pretty good idea ourselves because if it is healing he will have a voice again. I am not thrilled with going home with the NG tube. We did last time and it is a real pain. However, it is what it is and we will adapt. I do not know where my new found patience is coming from but I think we have just had to deal with such life or death situations that the trivial things are just another step in the process to me now. If after the 1 month time, Cooper's vocal cord still appears paralyzed we will proceed forward with the swallow test and they will take things from there. My real concerns with all of this is that I will not be able to hear him cry. How will I wake at night? He is 6 months old now. He should be eating solids. How is this going to affect his growth? These are things I am concerned with. I think that I will be calling our pediatrician, Dr. Kelley, very soon because I know he will be able to tell me exactly how we are going to deal with all of this. Once again, I feel so fortunate to have the doctors we do.

So for now, I am celebrating our move to the floor and then you all know me. I will now starting asking when we get to go home! Maybe I haven't found new patience after all :) Thank you all again for your support. Please keep the prayers and comments coming.

We had a very adorable visitor today and I know my family will love this picture! Thanks Tatum and Donovan, we love you!