Doin time

Evan's pacemaker surgery went well. He went under about nineish and was out by about 11:30. His lead was replaced and instead of going through his chest again the surgeon went through his left side. He was concerned about the possiblity of scar tissue from is previous surgeries.

Evan spent most of the day tranked out on morphine and oxycodone but the doctors became a bit concerned about his breathing and the fact that Evan was having a hard time going pee. Honestly I am not sure how much of the pee issue is him rigidly adhering to his potty training or if it is truly an issue from the painkillers. They cathed him to empty his bladder and are considering leaving one in if he continues to have issues.

Last night was tough because of pain control issues. The oxy alone was not enough to get him comfortable enough to sleep so another painkiller (fentynil ?? not sure of spelling) was finally ordered despite his bladder issues. It was quite heartbreaking seeing him in such pain and not being able to do much about it. Sometimes kids with incisions in the side are given epidurals for the pain, because it is a lot worse than if they go through the chest but because Evan is going to be getting back on his blood thinners an epidural was nixed due to the possibility of bleeding issues. Pain control seems to be something that is tough with a kid like Evan. Morhpine and other related drugs can depress breathing which Evan depends on to help pump his blood. Motrin and other related drugs can mess with his INR and cause bleeding issues. That leaves only a few painkillers that he can take and sometimes they are not as effective as the others.

The hospital here is quite nice. The PICU is huge compared to the one we went to in California (although to be fair they did recently move to better updated quarters). Evan's room actually has it's own bathroom, so I don't have to leave the unit every time I need to go. All of Evan's nurses have been very nice and helpful. I have not seen much of the doctors which is something I really miss about California. We got a lot more face time with them and they were very good about coming around and explaining the plan for the day. The surgeon that did Evan's surgery was nice enough but he was not nearly as compassionate and caring as the surgeon that did Evan's first heart surgeries.

Today we are hoping that Evan gets moved from the PICU and into the cardiac stepdown unit. I am also hoping that we get a good handle on his pain so that he can get the rest that he needs to heal.