Carson Pics and update

As most of you know, Carson moved out of the ICU on Saturday. Yay! He is doing well. They changed the last of his IV meds to oral, so the Broviac (central line in his chest) will come out tomorrow. This means that he can come home soon! I was told that he should be able to come home the end of the week. Ahhhh! I can't believe it! We're hoping that I will be able to "room-in" with him (which is required before he can come home) on Thursday and then bring him home on Friday. The nurse told me that that shouldn't be a problem, but as we've learned many times throughout Carson's hospital stay, things can change. So we'll have to just wait and see if that actually happens. As of now, it looks like Russ will get his wish, which is to have his whole family at Graduation on Saturday. Carson will come home with a feeding tube and most likely oxygen. We have to learn how to give him his meds through the feeding tube and how to handle the feeding pump and oxygen. We are nervous, but also so excited to finally get him home!

Here are the latest pics. There are a bunch of them, so I did a slide show.

Quick Update

I just thought I would do a quick Carson update. He is doing really well. He has pretty much surpassed everybody's expectations. He was extubated yesterday and so far so good. He is so much fun to visit now. He is awake and alert a lot of the time. We've even been able to get him to smile. He is just the cutest! (No, I'm not biased at all.) I will post some more pics soon.

Be Not Afraid

After meeting with the surgeon last Friday, I was terrified. Because of Carson's complicated case, the mortality rate more than tripled (from 5% up to 15-20%). There were also risks for many different complications. I was really worried that he wouldn't pull through. But as I prayed and fasted, I began to feel peace. I started to feel that Carson would be okay. He was also given a great blessing by Russ. I was still nervous for Monday, but it ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be. We showed up bright and early (actually it wasn't bright, it was still dark) at the hospital and got in a good visit with Carson before surgery. He was awake and alert and I got to hold him. The surgery went well...every time we got an update it was to tell us that things were going well. The surgery was done sooner than we expected and the prognosis was good. I think it even went better than what the surgeon expected it to go. It is such a big relief to have this huge hurdle done and over with. Carson still has a long way to go, but as of now he is doing really well. We hope that he will have a good recovery and that his breathing issues will improve so that we can bring him home. Thanks for all of the love and support. I have no doubt that all of the prayers have helped immensely.

New Plan

Carson was extubated in the O.R. on Monday and then was later intubated again. Are you noticing a trend? They didn't really find anything new, just confirmed what they already knew. His airway is being compressed in a couple spots. They were hoping (and so were we) that he would get better with a little bit more time, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. His arteries are compressing his bronchial tubes, so the only way to fix that is to move the arteries. So the plan for now is to have surgery on Monday (of course we know that things can change). He will have the transposition repaired (which will move the arteries) and they will fix as many of the VSD's (holes) as possible. We were all hoping that he would be able to grow and get bigger before the next surgery. Having the surgery doesn't guarantee that his breathing problems will go away, but they definitely aren't going to get better before the surgery. So, they can't wait to do the surgery. He just has to finish his antibiotics for the bowel infection (which is looking better last we heard). So anyway, that's the update. I hope it all makes sense.

We plan on fasting for Carson on Sunday. Any and all of you that are able and willing are invited to do so as well. We are terrified for this surgery. It is a complicated surgery and Carson has to go on bypass for it. We hope and pray that it will go well.

Here are some of the latest pics of Carson.


He can get pretty grabby some times and we took a picture right when he was pulling on one of his tubes.


Here are some pics of Melina looking for eggs. I just thought I would throw these in. We had a good Easter.

Complications

We've been told a few times that the longer somebody is in the ICU, the more complications that can come up. Unfortunately, Carson is proving that theory right. He has gotten a few blood clots from where IV lines have been placed and now is limited to where they can go. He had to have a pic line placed in his Superior Vena Cava through his neck/chest area (I forgot what the actual name for the pic line is). They think he may have a factor deficiency with his liver that is causing the clotting issues.

He also contracted a bowel infection. They were pretty concerned for a couple of days that he may need surgery for it, but fortunately, it is getting better. He is on antibiotics and bowel rest, which means they had to stop his feeds. They were just about to increase his feeds to help bulk him up some more, but then noticed some blood in his stools which led to the diagnosis of the infection. Although, I did find out that he has gained about one pound since he has been there.

And then there is the breathing problem. They still don't really know what is causing the problem. He still has the breathing tube and the plan is to extubate him in the O.R. with ENT. He is scheduled for that on Monday. In the mean time, they will just let him rest and give him some spontaneous breathing tests. We're hoping that it will go well.

Crazy Snow!

It's technically Spring, but here we are with a bunch of snow. It's not the melted by the end of the day snow either.


Melina sure had fun playing in it.


We even built a snowman.


Here is the final product (I know, it's not very big).


And here's what happens when a certain someone can't leave it alone.