Day 8 - Wednesday

Last night was a pretty sleepless night for Jamie and me.  About 10:30, I noticed that Jace's heart rate had dropped to the high 70s.  I called the nurse to come in and check on him.  She said everything seemed okay, but she would call the doctor.  The doctor checked his past monitor readings and told her that was a normal rate for his age and after having the Fontan.  His monitor was set to go off if it dropped below 65.  It still worried me seeing it this low, so I watched his monitor most of the night. 

About 2:30, his monitor went off because his rate dropped to 64.  I was so scared because I had never seen his heart rate that low.  I asked the nurse to have the doctor come in and check on him. When the doctor examined him, she said everything was fine.  His pulse was strong, his rhythm was fine, and she thought he was just in a deep sleep.  She said the monitor would show if he was in "heart block" and it was reading fine.  This made me feel better, but I still didn't rest much for watching his monitor. 

Around 6:00, his heart rate finally came up some.  The nurse was in his room and his monitor went off for low oxygen sats.  She immediately started preparing to put the oxygen back on him.  In a few minutes, it came back up, so she didn't put the oxygen back on him.  I was glad it did because that would mean staying in the hospital longer.

Before rounds were made a couple nurses came by and said the word was we were probably going home today.  This made me very nervous, because I actually wanted to stay another day to make sure his heart rate was okay.  If we didn't live so far away, I probably wouldn't have worried about it so much.  During rounds, they decided to have us stay today so they could monitor his rate and oxygen one more day.  They also wanted to change his medicine to his home dosage today to see how he would do.  So the plan is that if everything goes fine today and tonight, we will be discharged after rounds in the morning.

The Nashville Zoo was here this afternoon.  We took Jace down to the stage area to see what animals they had with them.  They brought a small rabbit and one that looked like it weighed about 50 pounds.  Jace enjoyed them, but I think he liked just watching all the people who were there.  After that, we took him outside for awhile.  He got out of the wagon and stood beside it for awhile.  His legs were still wobbly so he had to hold on to the wagon.  It is going to take him some time to be able to walk on his own again. 

I had asked the nurse if she would help me give Jace a bath.  When we got back to his room, she had everything ready for his bath.  He got excited when we told him he was getting a bath and started pointing to the bathroom.  He wasn't too thrilled when he found out we were doing it on his bed.  We scrubbed him down good and the nurse showed me how to clean his incision.  We scrubbed and scrubbed, but he still has some sticky stuff left from all the tape he has had on him.  It will just take a few baths to get it all off.  As we were finishing his bath, a lady from surgery came up with Jace a new g-tube.  She had checked it earlier this morning and said the size was still okay, but she would put a new one in for him.  He didn't like being held down, but she was quick so it didn't take long.  While the nurses changed his bed, I got to hold him.  It was time for his feed, so it wasn't long and he was asleep.

He spent most of the evening playing with toys in his bed.  Nolan and Judy went to Walmart and brought him back some new things to play with.  He is definitely ready to go home.  I packed most of our things up, so I sure hope we do get to go home in the morning.  It is almost 9:30 and he is settled and watching tv.  Hopefully this will be our last night here.

Finally found a way to keep him in the bed!!