Quiet Sunday

Boring, Boring, Boring Day. We watched movie after movie and went for a wagon ride. All the doctors seemed to take the day off. Must be nice. I want a day off too. Tanner just got his morphine and tylenol...so it's off to bed for us. Tomorrow will be a big day. Another nurse was asking our nurse who she was taking care of, and she said, "the 7 east kid?" (meaning the cardiac unit) And the other nurse says, "Oh yeah. The kid who has been everywhere but!" YUP! Everyone knows who we are!

On the Road Again!

Tanner went for a wagon ride today! We went to the playroom but it was closed, but they let us pick out a "Blue's Clues" book to read at our bedside.


Nothing like a little soda to lift the spirits! And make you pee!


Gotta give him credit for trying it...turkey stew and rice...but then I had to make him Easy Mac...

ON THE ROAD AGAIN????
Nothing like a little wagon ride the lift the spirits. Mark came by himself today and it was fun to have him all alone. I just have to give him so much credit too...taking on the "mommy role"...3 ACTIVE kids...24 hours a day...bringing us necessities...what a guy! We had a fun time throwing around a ball (wadded up napkin) and coloring. Before our wagon ride, they removed his oxygen tubes! Little bits removed at a time! He's still draining quite a bit...and they are keeping an eye on it for the next few days. If it doesn't stop...they may have to do another Catheter procedure to find out what is creating the extra pressure...hence the extra fluid. Never a dull moment around here!

My shower was very nice today. I remembered to bring some towels...but for ole times sake...I dried (exfoliated) my arms with paper towels. Gotta keep it fresh around here too!

But the wagon ride was not the only trip we made today. About 2:00...the doctor came down and said, "I am so sorry...but we have to move you guys again. We have a part of the hospital you haven't seen yet!" Ha! Ha! Ha! They were closing this part of the Pediatric ICU overflow unit and moving us to the main ICU which only had 2 out of 10 beds full (all comes down to money!) At this point...I kind of expect to be moved in the middle of the night! The charge nurse from the Pediatric Cardiac ICU almost came to tears. "You guys don't understand how much it means you being so flexible...its been so hard shifting around beds...the good news is Tanner is the most stable!" Honestly, what else am I supposed to do? Throw a temper tantrum? Rant and rave? Nope...I get excited because we're going to a part of the hospital we haven't been before! And by being so "flexible", we got a room with a view!

So it was a pretty good day UNTIL Mark called me on his way home traveling over the Bay Bridge announcing HE GOT A PARKING TICKET! He had found a parking spot on the street, and since it was Saturday, he assumed he didn't have to feed the meter! And even confirmed it with the guy parking next to him! The worst part... he missed the parking meterman by 3 minutes!

Cutie Pie

My Sleeping Beauty


Even with all those cords...he still manages to eat his Easy Mac!

Just call me DRAMA QUEEN

It's a good thing I didn't blog this morning. This entry would sound depressing, frustrating, maddening, and hopeless. This is all after only 4 hours of sleep. Ahhhh! When the nurses checked the Xray film, the PICC line WAS STILL POINTING UP! So they had to peel back the tape, pull out the line another 3 cms! Then, ANOTHER XRAY! That makes 4 today. I swear when we get home, we're gonna glow! Then, after our 10 o'clock meds, Tanner was extremely restless and overly tired. "I'm thirsty, I want my gameboy, I'm hungry" MOMMY's DONE! Then he dosed off a bit and I turned on the computer to play a few games. Well, that didn't set too well with the king. He started screaming, "Mommy go to sleep! Mommy go to sleep!" Hospital life...good thing everything's locked up. Then about 4:30 am, the nurse woke me and told me the PICC line had clotted and they had to give some meds to help dissolve it. I also noticed his Oxygen levels were in the mid 80's (last 2 days...mid 90's) and the monitor keep beeping; all night, on and off, loud and soft, open and close door, nurses in and out...you get the picture. But when the respiratory therapist came in, she replaced Tanner's finger monitor and his stats jumped right back up to the mid 90's. See? No sleep and I'm thinking Tanner's made a turn for the worst. I gotta get me some zzzzzz's. The PICC line blockage is gone and is working great. It's in his middle inner elbow and doesn't seem to bother him at all. BUT at 8:00 am, a nurse and later a doctor come in and drop the bomb: "YOU'RE MOVING BACK DOWNSTAIRS" I almost burst out crying right there. Remember one of the earlier posts? Loud noises, moaning kids (still here) stinky bathroom (just dumping room, really) The dungeon? Well, here we are. BUT one good thing, we're in the corner now with curtains all around us AND the window. I can look out and see San Fransisco Bay. And, as our first boy nurse Erik said, we're on "bedrock" so it's the safest place to be! I guess as opposed to fault lines! Gotta look for the good in everything, right?

So right before we moved again, they came in and removed Tanner's left chest tube. That sucker was long! The worst part was the nurse had to squeeze the skin while the doctor tied the stitch. One down, two to go. AND, one step closer to home! Whoo Hoot! The doctor also explained to me that earlier in the week, Tanner's Xray showed 800 ccs of fluid in his lower left side (I always thought xrays were just for bones...kind of cool, huh?) This morning, it was down to 200 ccs. Everything is right on track. AND, the doctor said (after apologizing for having to banish us again to the 6th floor) it's a good sign we are the ones to move...Tanner is the most stable!

And you thought my day was done, right! Well, tricks on you! No way could there be any more DRAMA, right? I swear, it just follows me around! Mark and the kids came today right in time to help us move. So they grabbed all our stuff and rode down in the public elevator to the 6th floor. I went with the 2 nurses, Tanner, and the big medical bed for the service elevators. Well, I didn't get the "down" button pressed fast enough so we ended up stopping on several floors. The doors would open, show us all stuffed in, the nurse would apologize to the people waiting, and then we'd get dirty looks! Amazing how Tanner's cranky mood seemed to effect everyone in the hospital! HeeHee! Anyway, on one of our stops, the doors open and we see 2 deputies holding a man dressed in an orange jumpsuit and leg and arm handcuffs! Something I didn't need to see today! The doors shut and we all just shook our heads. Never know what you're going to see in San Fransisco.

So when Mark and the kids come to visit, I run and take my shower and then the older kids and I run down to the cafeteria for lunch. They think it's the biggest treat ever. So I run down to the shower...turn it extra hot cuz I'm extra stinky (!) Just as I finished de-stinkying myself, I turned off the water...and realized I DIDN'T GRAB ANY TOWELS!!! The linen closet is out in the hall and around the corner. As the steam of my hot shower evaporated around me, I seriously considered opening the door and calling for anyone to help. Decided against this, because as you all know, I'm very modest (Biggest line of BS I've got today! HeeHee) So I grabbed my old sweatshirt, yes the stinky one, laid it on the floor and proceeded to dry myself off with 3X6 inch square paper towels. Those suckers were scratchy, but sure were absorbent! A little extra exfoliating is good for the skin!

Well, enough adventures for us today. Tanner is finally napping...and maybe I should to. My mom is coming to watch the kids on Saturday so Mark can come see us for more than 2 hours. Tanner cried when he left today...me too. This is the longest we've ever been apart. So I am really looking forward to tomorrow. And he can be here to help remind me to grab towels for the shower.

Fun Friday!

Tanner coloring a McQueen picture..."stop, mom!"


One of the nurses brought a sponge toothbrush cuz I forgot one for Tanner!


The visits get better and better!


Courtney helped Tanner play on Nick Jr. com...it was so fun to watch!

Cranky

Boy oh Boy. Cranky morning turned into cranky afternoon and cranky evening! But one of the doctors said that was good, as Tanner was telling her to "go away!" Good thing thing everyone takes it light hearted...cuz once we get our of here...no RUDE BOYS for me! Today they had to put in a PICC line. This is longer than an IV and extends from the inner-elbow all the way up the shoulder and into the ribcage into an artery. Well, they gave Tanner an extra dose of morphine and something else to make him sleepy but he cried anyway. It was awful. No wonder he tells everyone to "go away!" He gets poked at least once a day. This PICC line is for medicine AND drawing blood for tests. So hopefully that will be the last poke. So they do a chest xray to make sure the line isn't stopped in the neck...and what do you know? IT WAS! Could of seen that from a mile away! So the PICC nurse had to come back and pull the line out and leave it around the shoulder area...at this point I couldn't stand to have him look at me with tears, so I took a bathroom break...and found the furthest restroom on the floor and took my time. But he perked up a bit and we played with his mini-McQueen cars for awhile and read a search-in-find book with a flashlight. Lots of stimulation tonight. Should sleep pretty good after 9:00 meds.

Old faces

Last night was pretty quiet. I got to sleep in a small reclining rocking chair. I just leaned my pillow up against Tanner's bed and it wasn't too bad! We slept until 7:30! We're waiting to see what our plan of attack is today. Tanner is already sitting in a chair eating some bacon and drinking chocolate milk. Although he is one cranky monster this morning! Oh well, he's entitled! Our nurse today is Megan, who on our last 2 visits (surgeries) was our nurse practitioner. So she was glad to see us again, asked about the family, and really liked seeing how much Tanner had grown. Then, a few days ago, Sam, a nurse in the step-down unit, came to say hello too! She remembered us from our previous trips too! Hopefully we'll get to see her again some time next week.