Home again

Well we are home from the hospital and Evan is doing quite well. It was a very early morning for Evan and I, we had to leave the house at 5 am. A good thing about leaving so early that there was very little traffic, we also made better time than when my husband drives because he loves to stick in the slow lane.

The procedure did not start on time because there was an emergency adult case that bumped us back for a bit. While we were waiting the cardiologist showed us the pictures from the last cath. It was pretty neat seeing Evan's heart working and getting to really understand what they were doing. I think Evan has seen much more of his own heart than a lot of people.

He went under at about 8 am and did not get out until about 3 pm. It was a very long cath because they had so much to do. I was bored out of my mind. I saw Dante's Peak and a Law and Order movie neither of which was terribly exciting. A weird old guy sat next to me in the lounge for a bit and chatted with me and didn't remember any answers that I had given him because he kept asking the same types of questions over and over. The food at the hospital was horrible but I really could not leave so I made do.

Evan was pretty cranky coming out of the anethesia but some Baby Einstein soothed him right down. All the nurses in the PICU were ones that we already knew so it was very nice to chat with them. While we were going down to the cath in the morning we saw my all time favorite nurse and he even came out especially to say hi to us. I have a secret crush on him as he is very nice and very much not a gay male nurse. I had not expected to see him since he mentioned that he had been planning to move when we were in the hospital for Evan's stroke.

The recovery was hindered somewhat by Evan throwing up every time we tried to give him something to drink. This drug on into the night and was making him miserable and unable to sleep so I got the nurse to give him some anti nausea drugs. After that and some chocolate milk he settled down to sleep. Of course he still wiggled a lot during his sleep and set off the alarms pretty often so my sleep was not nearly as good as his. The night nurse was very good and had set the alarms so they would be minimally noisy but they still got to me because I am such a light sleeper.

The morning was filled with waiting. We had to wait for the cardiologist to come and free us. We had to wait for Evan's breakfast (french toast with no syrup). The waiting went pretty fast despite Evan's impatience. I got to see more pictures of Evan's heart. The cardiologist took me down to see the pictures that the had done the day before. I think that once he realized that I was interested in seeing those kinds of things he was more than happy to show them off.

A funny thing that occurred right after Evan got into the PICU. They had a student nurse working in the unit. One of the nurses was telling her about Evan's defect and I was adding my bit in since the nurse did not have all of the particulars right (Evan has a very complex heart). Later on the student nurse came up to me and asked me if I had been going to school to become a nurse because I had been so knowledgeable in explaining Evan's defect. I had to laugh and tell her that I was a student of the nursing school of hard knocks. I have self educated myself in all this. Nursing students are so cute! I just want to pinch their cheeks sometimes.

Evan getting his temperature taken before the cath.

A picture taken by Evan. As you can tell I was desperate to entertain him.

Thank heavens for technology and Baby Einstein!

No pictures please!!!!

Enjoying a bit of breakfast and more Baby Einstein.