Last / First update of the day

It's 12:15 a and we just returned from the hospital. There are up-close pictures of Samuel below as we left him at the hospital with a breathing tube in, 2 chest tubes, and lots of other stuff connected to him. If this will upset you, I wouldn't scroll past the hash marks I put in (#) below...

After the last update, we thought we'd be seeing him at about 10:00p. However, we didn't get in until shortly after 11p. It has been a long day for us and Samuel. We've had a lot of touch from family and friends. Thank you all for your prayers and contact in all the various forms. I have been trying to reply to all the comments. Rowena is in the loop on all of the comments as well.

When we went into see Samuel, he looks as still as a pond. It is rather eerie. However, knowing what he's been through... Anyway, it's hard not to want to touch your son and to caress and talk to him and let him know you are there, tell him you love him, in case he didn't hear it the other 20 times it was told to him by us today. I brushed his upper left arm and he sorta twitched. Rowena told me to stop as she didn't want him to twitch.

I stopped and the nurse tending him constantly told us that it seemed he was trying to wake up from the anesthesia and that's what the twitching was about. I stopped touching him, but it is hard. He and I are very close and we are connected. Even after I stopped touching him or talking to him, he continued to twitch on occasion.

Rowena finally moved up closer to him and was whispering to him. He continued to twitch. At about this point, Rowena sort of swooned and I helped her to the floor. The twitching, a long day, probably not enough food, all took their toll on her. The folks there made sure she was fine, gave her some juice and helped her up. There was no other event. It was a long, stressful, and challenging day.

We will be back up there tomorrow early, trying to beat the i280 traffic. So, below are the pics. Don't scroll down if seeing a young man with lots and lots of hoses and lines connected will upset you.

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First, here is the mass of various fluids that are finding their way into Samuel via a central line in his neck, a line in each arm and one in his left hand. Each thing on the top left with an orange top is a vial of medication of some sort... You can See Samuel's face in the lower right corner:

This is the nurse tending some lines in a manifold next to him. I have no idea how they keep track of what is what, but they do, thank God...

A bit more up close:

He has 2 chest tubes that are draining fluid from his chest cavity. One is just below the main incision and one is to the lower right of the main incision.

Okay, bed time.