Halloween turned out to be a pretty magical day after all. For starters, it felt like the whole hospital showed up in costume -- from the nurses and doctors, to volunteers and patients. I know I certainly wasn't expecting morning rounds being presented by Snow White, a cat, and Kanye West, but it was pretty fun to see. There were also stations set up all around the hospital for the kids to go trick-or-treating for toys and treasures. You can tell everyone goes out of their way to make it a fun day for the kids, despite their not-so-fun circumstances.
Just another day at the office
Elyse had another great day too. Although she has taken her time getting through the worst of this virus, now that she's on the other side of it she really seems to be raring to go home! Her team was really impressed by how well she had tolerated the weaning of ventilation pressure and medication overnight, and decided to go ahead and extubate a day early. She handled the procedure like a champ -- in fact, the worst part was probably peeling the tape off her face (I have a feeling we will be scrubbing that sticky residue off for a while). Once she was settled, we had our first cuddle in over two weeks, and it was amazing!
Best feeling ever
I made it back home last night in time for some trick-or-treating with Emmett the fireman, and then it was Matt's turn for some much-needed cuddles with Elyse. Now that she is starting to wake up, we will start staying with her around the clock again. Thanks to the wonders of FaceTime, Emmett can still get his goodnight kisses from the hospital too. He has certainly been a trooper through all of this, although his last request before bed is always to scroll through pictures of his baby sister. Hopefully it won`t be much longer until we are all under the same roof again!
Happy Halloween!
cuddles with Daddy
Today they were also able to remove the arterial line as well as both chest tubes, which should make things more comfortable for Elyse, and certainly much easier for cuddles. She has been becoming more alert throughout the day, but you can tell that she is still pretty dopey and often quite agitated, which could be a sign of withdrawl. They have now switched her over fully to a non-narcotic medication, and will start to wean that one as tolerated. Tonight I was encouraged by the fact that she was quite a lot calmer than this time yesterday, and was also able to maintain eye contact for longer periods of time. Let`s home this trend continues and she is back to her old self in no time!
Whoa...that was some nap
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