Post-Op day 1

Things are stable and last night was peaceful. We were finally able to get in to see Colby last night around 6:00.... We had originally thought we would see him around 4:30 but Colby decided he wanted a little more time to get settled. So far so good on reports.

It took them a little longer yesterday to to get him settled into the PCICU than expected. Colby was having some higher levels of drainage from his chest tubes than normal so they were having to monitor those levels really closely. The biggest issue was keeping him replenished via transfusion at the same rate he was draining to keep all of his blood levels stable. The other issue was keeping him sedated. unlike his father they were having a tough time keeping him asleep. Apparently his tolerance for pain medicine and sedatives is rather high. They wanted to keep him knocked out until the bleeding/ drainage had stopped. The more he moved and more agitated he was the more he would bleed. Thanks to his persistent nurse she found the right mix of meds to keep him stable long enough to stop draining.
Sleep for mom and dad finally came last night.... we got a sleep room!!!!! if you don't know what that is.... its a closet with a bed and toilet but last night it was a 5 star closet. we were so excited we crashed.

We were on our way back to his room this morning just after 6:00 when the phone rang.... not a good thing when your kid is in the PCICU. It was the nurse..... good news.... he had just come off the ventilator.... no more breathing support. Hurdle number 1 accomplished less than 24 hrs after surgery. Yeah Colby. There is a little negative to being off the ventilator.... less pain mgmt b/c he has to be alert enough to breathe.... He appears to be comfortable. He just finished off his first bottle of pedialite which he gave himself....

Today will probably be rocky as they try to get him off some meds and his body adjusts to the additional blood flow and pressures in his upper body.... the glen procedure repairs the plumbing for the upper chambers of the heart.... mostly affecting the pressures in his upper body. his next surgery will be to repair the plumbing for the lower chamber so i assume that will affect his lower body pressures? We will keep things updated as they progress.
Thank you all so very much for all of the positive comments and words of encouragement. Most of all we want to thank you for the unimaginable number of prayers lifted up on our families behalf. There is no doubt that we were blessed throughout the day yesterday. Becca and I were talking last night while we ate about how we both kinda had a peace about us throughout the day yesterday. Yes, there were moments of emotion with highs and lows but we were both surprised at how well we kept it together. All of that to say thank you God for strength, peace, and narcotics (for Colby).