Up and Moving

Wow...what a difference a day can make! Blake is sitting in a chair next to me as I write this.

Last night they were able to remove his arterial line (it was monitoring his blood pressure) which he was really happy about because while he had it on he had to have an arm board. His temperature was a bit elevated again last night but everyone has agreed that is Blake's reaction to stress and was caused due to the surgery yesterday.

This morning they were also able to remove his GI tube and he has been drinking water and a bit of a milk shake. They let him try to eat breakfast but after only two few bites he vomited so we are sticking to milk shakes and smoothies for now.

A little while ago he was able to sit up and we slid him out of the bed. He took a few steps to a chair and is now happily perched on some pillows. He has a lot of discomfort in his belly due to stomach irritation from all the meds, he has two places where he had the chest tubes and they had to make space for his pace maker. They are continuing to work on the right type and amount of pain meds to make him as comfortable as possible.

We are still in CICU for now as his first x-ray this morning did show that his lungs were a little "wet". He is back on a good bit of diuretics today to try to reduce that...we are also hoping that if he can move around he will cough and move some of the fluid himself. Kids who have the bi-ventricular repair are at a high risk for fluid on the lungs and other respiratory issues so they want to continue to monitor this before releasing him to the floor.

We are SUPER excited that Aunt Sheila is going to be bringing Aidan and Riley up tomorrow for a visit! Please pray they have safe travels. Please pray that Blake gains some strength and that his lungs get clear and dry. Thank you for your continued love, support and prayers for our family! I am so proud of how all the kids have handled this!!!