Day 6 Post-op

Last night was another sleepless one. Ethan woke up about every 20-30 minutes crying in pain (most likely gas). This morning we had him sit in a chair for a longer time than he has done (probably around 30-35 minutes) and he screamed and cried the whole time. His gas pain was just so bad. After his chair time he was tired so he took more laxatives along with his regular meds and gas drops, and rested back in bed. When he woke up he was feeling a lot better. He didn't complain of gas pain for the rest of the afternoon - not until closer to 7:30. Still no poop, but I pray that he is not in pain with it again tonight. If he is then we are most likely looking at an enema once his pain becomes bad again. Things are not looking good since he has woken up every few minutes moaning and needing help with his coughing, choking on his gunk, and stomach/bowel pain.

He was much calmer and in a lot less pain today thankfully! He is only complaining of pain when coughing, yawning, and with gas. His chest x-ray from this morning looks a little better than yesterday in the right lung. His left lung still looks bad, but you are now able to hear a little bit of gunk moving instead of no air sounds at all. Hopefully we will see more improvement tomorrow - he sure has been coughing a lot more today so that should be helping break up his lung gunk.

This morning our nurse realized that Ethan's mental/emotional state was really not good. He is completely done with being stuck in his bed in pain all day. We had Ethan get out of bed and walk out in the hall a little. Then he took a wheelchair ride down to the playroom and to see the big fish tank. He definitely enjoyed getting out, but was so worn out that he was only able to shoot one basket in the playroom before having to come back upstairs to bed. He had a nice nap when we returned from our outing and did really well.

He had a mail delivery and received a couple more cards today. Thank you so much for sending those - he really enjoys having deliveries! Ethan also was able to see his heart friend Micah who stopped by for a visit! He really brightened up Ethan's day! :)

All in all he had a good day (especially a good afternoon). He was up in his chair three times today and took two walks and even had a spongebath (which he definitely needed!). He stayed awake more today than he has his entire hospital stay so that was a great thing! We need to get him up and out of bed as much as possible to help try and open up his lungs and get his bowels moving. We are really really hoping that Ethan has a great night sleep and is able to move to the step down unit tomorrow. That will be really great for him emotionally I think. He is desperate to get back home.

Please pray for sleep tonight, poop, no more gas/stomach pain, coughing pain to decrease, his lung to open up, and his emotional peace! I am sure hoping that we can really get moving with his recovery and we have no more setbacks.