Bye Bye Chest Tube

Cory a few days before surgery.












Cory was moved up to the I.C.E. Unit yesterday. That is kind of like a half-way house between I.C.U. and the ward. He is doing extremely well and he is looking great! He has a chest tube in to drain any fluid from his chest cavity, and one IV in each foot. The IV's in his feet are only to administer medication when needed. They are not hooked up to any lines that constantly drip medicine into him.



Pictures taken in the ICU before he was moved to ICE.




He gets kind of upset when the nurses come around to work on him. We had to give him a short of Morphine yesterday to help ease the pain a little. After the nurses changed a few of his dressings I got to hold him. I was a little apprehensive because when I had tried to hold him earlier in the day he seemed to be in pain. But the nurse passed him over to me very carefully and he settled into my arms. He was so content. He just stared at me and stared and Lee. Then he drifted off to sleep. I felt horrible when we had to wake him to put him back in his crib. But I think it did us both some good to have a cuddle.



The surgeon told us yesterday that Cory's chest tube will likely come out today. That will be a huge relief as one of the nurses told me that the chest tube is very uncomfortable and painful for Cory. Every time he moves or breathes is scratches inside. Poor little kid. So we're hoping that Cory will feel a whole lot more comfortable and be able to recover that much more quickly once the chest tube is removed.


Lee & I have been spending most of our time in the hospital. It is such a different experience now that Cory is 8 months old. It is so much more difficult to leave him behind in the hospital. He looks around his room at the doctors and nurses and has a look on his face like like "What the heck is going on here??" When the nurses come around, he gets a little scowl on his face then scrunches it up and turns his head and completely ignore them. I think he's warning them to back off and that he's had enough of this hospital stuff! Cory finally started looking at me again once he was moved to the I.C.E. Unit. I can't tell you how happy I was to see those big brown eyes again! Now he looks to Lee & I for comfort because he knows we make the nurses stop bothering him.


Well... I have to get to the hospital this morning (Sunday) for the doctor's rounds. That's where we get all our information on what the next steps are for Cory and get the real story on how he is doing.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and comments here and on Facebook and to our emails! Lee and I really appreciate all your support!