We’re up on the floor!

We have had a busy busy day. Olivia actually got out of bed and walked to the potty this morning in the PICU. I then got to hold her chest to chest and cuddle her up. It was sheer heaven for both of us.

Katie removed Olivia’s center chest tube this morning and they removed her atrial line (?) - the line they were using for blood draws. They can’t come out of the PICU until that is out.

Olivia rode a wagon to the new floor and was waving to her royal subjects ;). We’re in room 801. It is SO much quieter up here - even the chest tube machines are quieter up here (although we took them with us so it’s nothing “new” - the room just seems quieter).

Olivia is resting quietly after just going potty. She is using a bedside commode but with the chest tubes she was in a lot of pain. It’s hard to juggle everything and I felt terrible that I even accidentally hurt her when moving her around. She is wearing her pink pj’s (tops AND bottoms) and she looks GREAT. They just gave her some tylenol for pain and we’re going to head down to the playroom (next door) when she wakes up.

So all is well and now we just wait and heal and dream of dry chest tubes so we can come home. I’m heading home for the first time tonight with Maddie. Maddie has her communion retreat tomorrow and then we’ll head up here for the day.

Have a wonderful afternoon!

http://www.olivia-ann.com/wordpress/2008/03/26/update-6-for-march-26/

I fixed the video links. Heads up to our friends still on dialup: it’s going to be a SLOW load.

Good morning. Yesterday was pretty dang amazing. Olivia had a decent afternoon but wasn’t eating terribly much. then around 4pm her cousins Christopher and Cole came by to see her. We had to pull some strings to get them on the floor (no one under 14 unless a sibling is allowed) but Maribel said “yes”. Olivia was GLOWING when she saw them. It was the first time since she went down for surgery that she was giving out REAL smiles. They were exactly what she needed!

Unfortunately her IV blew in her hand and she got very upset so we cut the visit short. They placed another IV in the top of her hand which is giving her a lot more flexibility to move her fingers.

Olivia’s good mood carried through the evening to our visitors: Nana, Poppy, & Maddie; Fellow Heart Parents: Laura and Keith; and finally we got to meet Paul J. Paul’s mom Sasha works with Arnie and Paul just had his fontan last summer … at age 13!!!! It was so nice to be able to hug an older “heart child” and you can tell just by looking at him that he’s doing fantastic. He was a sweetie, telling me what hurts for Olivia and what I should discourage her from doing because it will hurt (such as using her arms to pull herself up in bed).

Tom was on last night and he said she as an absolute doll for him. She stayed awake until 11PM and is still asleep. We’re going to have to adjust her sleep patterns back when we get home but it’ll all be ok because she’ll be HOME!

So today is the day we move to the floor. Unless they want another fight, she’ll be moving to 8. I’ll post again after rounds to fill everyone in. I’m thinking we might lose the center chest tube this morning but I’m not positive that Dr. Mello is going to pull it. He’s very conservative in pulling them because he HATES to put them back in (extremely painful for patients). He did pull her pacer wires yesterday and she was happy to have those gone. One less wire = one step closer to home … FOREVER.

Have a great day!!!