Moving forward

Good morning! I wanted to give everyone a quick update. Max is still doing really well and is stable. His heart rate, oxygen saturations, EKG, etc all remain wonderful. Our little guy is still intubated but there are slowly decreasing his sedation. The plan today is to extubate and switch little Max to CPAP (less lung support). For those that have never heard of intubation it is a tube that runs down your throat to your lungs and is hooked up to a computer generated ventilator. This computer system basically breathes for you. To take the tube out (extubate) is a BIG step in the recovery process and requires Max to start breathing for himself. We hope today goes smoothly and we have been reassured by the team they have reviewed his failed extubation from last hospital stay multiple times and are determined to make it successful. So far this CVICU stay has been a completely different experience for both Brad and myself. Although this surgery was much more invasive and required heart/lung bypass, this surgery made Max have a fully functional heart. His new cardiac stability has made a world of difference for his recovery. One of our nurses that trained at Boston Children's drew us this before and after of Max's heart. You can see from the before picture how much blood mixing and how inefficient our little guy's heart truly was.

Before: DORV, TGA, VSD, PA Band 

After

Brad and I treated ourselves to the movie Bad Moms yesterday. It was a great distraction and provided some much needed laughs, but it also made me miss our kids. Molly and Luke have been in San Diego with my mom and with Brad's parents. We are thankful for family to help us out during this extremely difficult time, but are so ready to have our family back together again. On Thursday the kids come up to see their baby brother. I can't wait to give them a big hug and show them the wonderful and fancy Ronald McDonald House that we have been staying in!