Home!

Saturday night - So I guess the last time I posted was Saturday afternoon after Collin opened one eye and had shown some signs of getting his personality back.  Max came to the hospital that afternoon - we didn't let him go up to see Collin but Matt and I got to spend some time with him and go to dinner. That evening he continued to improve and the swelling went down even more.  Not sure exactly what time but his other eye opened that night as well, so we knew we would be heading up to a regular room at some point on Sunday.  Collin also had his last dose of morphine in the early hours of Sunday morning.  They had been backing off of it all day and he really didn't seem to be feeling that much pain after his eyes both opened.  At that point he was only taking antibiotics and tylenol with codeine.

The plastic surgeon on call came by Sunday morning and said everything looked great and took his drain out.  We found out our new room number and they got Collin ready to move.  He was still attached to some monitors and IVs and all of that had to come out/off before we could go up.  Matt was home sleeping (it seemed like all the big stuff happened when he was home sleeping!) so Aunt Em and I moved all the stuff up to our new room.  We were in the biggest room on a wing that had only opened 3 weeks ago.  There was a couch that folded into a bed and a large sleeper chair.  The bathroom had a huge walk in shower and there was a flat screen TV and refrigerator in the room!  I've never seen a hospital room so nice.  The best part of moving up to the floor was that I finally got to hold Collin for the first time since sending him back for surgery Thursday morning.  I think he was pretty excited about it too.  I'm not sure if I ever explained that he had been confined to a car seat sitting in a hospital bed/crib.  They use the car seats to keep their heads elevated to help with the swelling.  So I'm sure after 72 hours of being in one position he was just happy to be held and not in that seat! 

One of the things we were concerned about during the three days in ICU was how little Collin was eating.  The first night after surgery he ate (drank) a good amount of formula but after that he didn't seem interested in it at all.  He would drink a little apple juice or a couple ounces of formula here and there, but nowhere near the amount that he normally eats.  He also wouldn't eat any baby food.  Once we moved up to the room he did eat a jar of sweet potatoes but refused to drink anything.  Between the time we got up to the room and midnight on Sunday he only had about an ounce of liquid.  The nurses were getting worried about dehydration and started talking about hooking him up to IV fluids.  I asked them if I could try to make a bottle out of his powder formula instead of the pre-mix formula they had been trying to feed him.  Apparently he knows his formulas because he immediately sucked down 6 oz!  Thankfully that was enough to keep them from running IV. 

So even though our room was much more comfortable than the ICU we knew that if we were going to make it through the rest of the week Matt and I needed to each get a bigger chunk of sleep than 2-3 hours.  I decided to get a hotel room for Sunday night so Matt could go first then switch off with me at 4am.  That would give us each the opportunity for 7-8 straight hours of sleep.  I ended up getting a great deal on a hotel downtown on priceline and Matt went to take his turn.  He woke up refreshed and ready to go around 2:30 am so he came to relieve me.  I got to the hotel and had trouble going to sleep - Collin had actually slept fairly well in the room so I had already had a couple of hours.  I finally drifted off around 4:30 I guess...and by the way...the doubletree beds have to be the most comfortable beds on the planet.  Or maybe sleeping in a fold out chair in the ICU for 3 nights will make any bed seem wonderful.  So my phone rang at 7:20 and I was terrified thinking something had happened.  It was Matt saying that Dr Kelly (collin's surgeon) had come by and said it was time to go home!  I was in shock!  They've been telling us 7 days all along but I really felt like it would be 5, which would mean we would go home Tuesday.  I never expected to go home less than 24 hours after moving to a floor.  I was terrified - not sure of how we were going to manage to keep him from hurting his incision. 

The nurse told us basically we have to be within arms reach at all times when he is awake and moving around and if he is standing we actually have to have hands on him.  He also has to sleep in his carseat.  We've got it over in his crib propped up by pillows and it's got some extra padding.  He also has to wear a foam donut around his neck while he's sleeping to keep him from pressing up against the side of the carseat where his incision is.  Scary as it was, we got home yesterday around 11am and things have been going well so far (considering)! 

He is almost back to normal on the amount of food he eats and he's sleeping fairly well in the carseat.  He was up twice last night for about an hour and a half each time but he went to bed at 6 and was up at 8, so we really can't complain about him getting 11 hours of sleep overnight!  It is a challenge, and exhausting, when he is awake to keep him from falling down.  We've already had a couple of spills but nothing bad.  We really just have to crawl around with him and not look away at all.  You don't realize how independent your children are until they can't be...I mean, you can't walk away to pick up your phone unless you take him with you or someone else is there to catch him if he falls.  I think that will get easier over the next few days as he gets less and less medicine and his body isn't working so hard to heal.  He isn't nearly as steady as he thinks he is.  I'm sure his head being twice normal size doesn't help matters any! 

Well since he is resting I think I will go get some more rest myself.  Who knows if he'll sleep as well tonight!  More soon!