Post-Fontan Day 2

Today is Saturday (right?) and it's been a very lovely day for Chase! He's made some significant progress on his road to recovery! By around 24 hours post-op, he had already lost the breathing tube, the OG tube, his femoral arterial line, his rectal temp probe, and dropped from 9 med pumps to 4. That's amazing!!

He still needs some oxygen support with the nasal cannula at 2 liters, and still has his central venous line, 3 chest tubes, a line directly to his heart to measure pressure, and a Foley catheter. This is AMAZING progress!!!!!

The biggest question for post-Fontan patients is drainage. His chest tubes have had the typical volume of output at this stage, and if anything, it's been slightly less than expected, rather than more. This is excellent news!! The volume of chest tube output is the main factor in how long we'll be staying, and so far things look encouraging. But it's too soon to get our hopes up as it could increase once he picks up his food intake. Please pray with us that he doesn't have unusually large volumes of output!

He's was playing on the iPad while watching a movie, but is resting a bit now. He's on a pain med schedule to keep him comfy with additional doses of Tylenol and Oxycodone as needed. Overall his spirits are high (all things considered) and he's been a real champ!

Our plan for tonight is to continue to let things ride as they are. They're weaning him off the pumps and will most likely have him ready for the floor by Monday, I'd guess. Not much happens in the ICU over the weekend, especially when his surgeon isn't here to make the big decisions in his care. But tomorrow we'll probably lose the catheter and then either tomorrow or Monday, he should lose the heart pressure line and central venous line (these calls are all deferred to his surgeon). He'll be left with 3 chest tubes and most likely keep a bit of O2, and that's how I'd imagine he'll look when we head up to the step-down unit on 8D. I'd honestly be surprised if they kept us in the ICU beyond Monday with how well he's progressing, assuming a room is available to send us to on the floor.

Thank you as always for your continued thoughts, prayers and well-wishes for our boy! He is truly rocking the Fontan! God is so very good!

A few pics from our day...