Well...so much for an early night last night...they called me back to the hospital because Brandt had refused to fall asleep even with a good meal, his Benadryl, and his oxycodone. I knew it would be a long night if he'd already been awake that long, so headed back to feed him around 11. Thanking God for safety driving after so many short nights recently...
Back early in the morning feeling much better...it will be nice to be able to spend the night with him again soon, hopefully! Speaking with the boys about how Paul praised God even in prison--the very best hospital can still feel a little like a prison in some ways--reminds me that even though I REALLY DIDN'T want to be back here right now, and I REALLY DIDN'T want to see Brandt go through all this again, I still have more blessings than I can count.
What a crazy day in the ICU today...the unit was closed to visitors most of the day due to some really long procedures that had to be done right in the ICU. I, however, was in high demand by Brandt's nurse, because he continues to refuse any sort of sustenance other than nursing. She thought surely if he got hungry enough he would go back to the bottle--I'm really surprised as well, because he has done fine with either one since he first learned to eat after his first surgery. Evidently, he's associated the bottle with something bad from this particular visit--we're not sure what.
But I was glad to still be able to see him today--we wondered if the surgeon would get to changing his wound vacuum with all the other long procedures going on. Later in the day his nurse let us know that they were going to hold off on the change again, but that Dr. Bradley wanted to schedule him to go to the OR the next day to check on his healing. If everything looks clean, he'll go ahead and reclose the incision. If not, he'll put a smaller wound vac in. We were glad to hear they could do it all at once instead of doing a change and then having to go in again to decide about closing him. All his other numbers are stable, like BP, and he seems comfortable with minimum pain meds. When Glenn came in to see him after the ICU opened again, he was happy to see his face swelling had receded and Brandt was back to smiling and laughing--this was the first day we felt we had our real Brandt back again...
Back early in the morning feeling much better...it will be nice to be able to spend the night with him again soon, hopefully! Speaking with the boys about how Paul praised God even in prison--the very best hospital can still feel a little like a prison in some ways--reminds me that even though I REALLY DIDN'T want to be back here right now, and I REALLY DIDN'T want to see Brandt go through all this again, I still have more blessings than I can count.
What a crazy day in the ICU today...the unit was closed to visitors most of the day due to some really long procedures that had to be done right in the ICU. I, however, was in high demand by Brandt's nurse, because he continues to refuse any sort of sustenance other than nursing. She thought surely if he got hungry enough he would go back to the bottle--I'm really surprised as well, because he has done fine with either one since he first learned to eat after his first surgery. Evidently, he's associated the bottle with something bad from this particular visit--we're not sure what.
But I was glad to still be able to see him today--we wondered if the surgeon would get to changing his wound vacuum with all the other long procedures going on. Later in the day his nurse let us know that they were going to hold off on the change again, but that Dr. Bradley wanted to schedule him to go to the OR the next day to check on his healing. If everything looks clean, he'll go ahead and reclose the incision. If not, he'll put a smaller wound vac in. We were glad to hear they could do it all at once instead of doing a change and then having to go in again to decide about closing him. All his other numbers are stable, like BP, and he seems comfortable with minimum pain meds. When Glenn came in to see him after the ICU opened again, he was happy to see his face swelling had receded and Brandt was back to smiling and laughing--this was the first day we felt we had our real Brandt back again...
One of the nurses told us about a holiday light display they thought the boys would really enjoy, so we took a break from the hospital and went to check it out. Great memory--we kept saying how much Brandt would love this next year! The boys liked the Enchanted Forest walking portion and we couldn't believe how many lights there were. They also had a Gingerbread House contest and giant-size Christmas cards...one of which very appropriately matched the boys' attire and choice of SC teams. This time of togetherness really encouraged me--and helped keep me awake to go back and give Brandt his late-night feeding. Even just hearing the Christmas carols made it feel a little more like Christmas week...and seeing a beautiful Nativity display. The wonder of Christmas is truly the miracle that our Wonderful Savior came here as a tiny baby...He was away from "home" for His whole time here on earth...for us!
The guys dropped me back at the hospital and headed back to the house. Brandt's night nurse told me his surgery was scheduled for 10 tomorrow. He couldn't eat after midnight, but he sure ate right up until then! I noticed his little head had some open sores--poor little guy has thrashed his head around so much he's lost all his hair and gotten some bedsores too:-(
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