2 weeks out

2 weeks ago today, at this time, (link is surgery photos ->) Samuel was on the table and doctors were fiddling around in his stopped heart. He looked like he was held together with bailing wire and duct tape when they were through with him.

Having been home just over a week, his lung capacity is doing really well. On the little breath-o-meter device he was sent home with, he was able to get it up to about 1500 mL of Inspired Volume. For reference, he was having trouble getting it to 500 mL in the hospital.

I was working at home today. He came up to me and told me he wanted me to remove the tape on his wound. We had been told it was okay to remove (no, nothing will spill! ;) or that the tape would just fall off in time. Samuel really wanted it off. So, I took it off:

Click on the image below to get a better view. You can see the tissue melding together, becoming once again, a single intact organ:
What is interesting about the scar is that they went right over the top of the old one, almost exactly. Except at the very top. The part at the very top of the sternum, just below his chin, had a slight arc to the left form the original surgery. The new scar tips a bit to the right. I wonder if that is on purpose...

Anyway, he let me use the wipey things (adhesive tape remover) they sent us home with to clean off the adhesive schmutz from his belly. I was somewhat surprised that this was tolerated by him really well. The hardest part was not tickling him while doing that.

I proceeded to help him with his shower and was able to wash all but directly over his scar. He was actually able to let the water hit his scar and was pleasantly surprised that it did not hurt (told ya!). However, one cannot come too close to the actual wound as it is apparently still quite sensitive. He was digging looking at the wound sealing up in the mirror right after his shower. His reaction is much like mine, one of amazement at the ability of the human body.

As I am back at work, Rowena's days still are mostly hanging around, doing activities with Samuel and taking walks. On Saturday or Sunday, we all walked in the park and took the camera looking for April (we saw her today - no camera - she's getting big!). We also saw a young woman practicing her pitching:



Those weren't her best pitches. She made that ball pop in the glove. Samuel provided the music in this clip.

Samuel has been given the go-ahead to go back to school for half days. He went and visited yesterday and was really thrilled to see his friends. He will start back on Monday. He'll also be at church on Sunday. It's only been 2 weeks since his heart was stopped for 145 minutes. 2 weeks. Is that possible? It would seem so. The human organism; just amazing.