Visitors and Heart Rate

Today was another pretty good day in the Max hospital world. A few changes to report. 

Early this morning, the doctors discontinued the remaining morphine that Max was on. They had gradually weaned him down to a pretty low dose over night and now it's finished. He can have Advil and Tylenol as needed for pain control but the great thing about this is that there is no longer anything connected to the IV in his jugular vein on the right side of his neck. This is great because Max likes to move so much in the night and last night we had a bit of a scare when he rolled over and the IV in his neck got pulled pretty tight. It was then a tough struggle to return him to his back without hurting his sternum/surgery site. He was a little shaken up and so were we and then a short while later... he did it again! 

The doctors have also removed the pacemaker that has been attached to Max since surgery. This is a precautionary measure and in Max's case, it hasn't been needed once. It simply senses and monitors the heart rate and if it drops below 70 bpm it starts pacing. There are still 2 blue wires coming through Max's belly but they are just capped off. They will be removed before we go home but for now they just sit there in case they are required. Long story short, its one less thing attached to Max and restricting his movement. 

We had a really great morning where we spent time playing with toys, reading books, and sticking stickers, instead of just watching TV. We we also had a couple of special visitors today (besides Tata and Papa). Auntie Heather and cousin summer came to visit Max and he was pretty thrilled about it. They read books and did puzzles together. 

Max also had a brief FaceTime chat with his Grandpa and Grandma in BC. My dad happens to be back in the hospital after having more chest pains/heart problems yesterday, so Max and Dad compared hospital attire and who has more stickers on their bodies! 

The latest issue that could use your prayer is Max's heart rate. It is pretty high considering that he is in bed 24 hours a day. There was some thought that he was not hydrated enough so they have given him 2 IV's of fluid tonight and there has been no change. The most recent echocardiogram and ECG's both look fine, so they aren't too sure what's causing it. For now, they are just going to monitor things and see if it comes down in time. As far as we can tell, this is the only issue that is currently going on. Max is happy, energetic and in good spirits most of the time although I am sure that he is pretty bored at this point so we are hoping that they will change his "level of care" to one step lower (from ICE to High Observation) so that we can take a short walk off of the unit with Max. We really think that it would help him to get a change of scenery, even for a few minutes per day. 

We haven't heard any serious talk about a timeline for discharge yet so stay tuned for that. 

We hope that this give you somewhat of an update about how we are doing and what you can pray for as Max continues to recover. Here are a few pics from today...

Cam

Max playing with stickers and a tractor this morning.

A cute nap picture with his awesome new robe while his blanket was being washed!

Max and cousin Summer reading books.

Tata, Abbie, Max and Baby! And the infamous hospital TV! 

Tata, Papa, Abbie and Max

Auntie Heather and Max looking at family pics together.

Watching TV... again. What else is there to do around here!