Recovery - Day 2

Photo Warning: Again, shots of Samuel in his hospital bed. If you saw the previous images, these are less challenging as he is moving around a bit more and looks a bit more "alive". At least to me. Regardless, if such images are going to bother you, sorry. From here, I'll write a lot of detail around the images. It's my therapy, so... Well, there it is.

We made it back to the hospital just after rounds this morning about 8:00 AM. Samuel was just starting to open his eyes and was moving around a bit. The expert responsible for monitoring his breathing and the ventilator was on the job and making sure that all was as expected.

In the mean-time, I noticed that unlike his first surgery, the little diode they use to monitor his O2 saturation is on his toe. I spotted it glowing from beneath his sheet (lower left):

Rowena and I traded off a bit sitting next to him and holding his hand. The monitor to the left of Rowena is the one that is associated to his breathing tube:

He finally rested for a bit. He had gotten a bit restless and was looking to remove his own breathing tube. We of course discouraged this behavior.

It was funny, interesting, challenging, sweet, and amazing - Samuel, since he couldn't talk, used sign language of sorts to let us know what he did and did not want. He has a way of waving his fingers away form his palm with the back of his hand facing upwards, to "shoo" someone off. He did this to each of us at one point or another.

He motioned for a drink. It was clear he was asking for a drink of water, which with a breathing tube in, he couldn't have...

We noticed this map on his main bandage this morning:
I thought I spotted "Isla Tortuga" on there. Alas, it is just an outline of the blood seepage on his bandage so that the doctors and nurses could tell if his wound was bleeding excessivly. At 2:15p, it is unchanged, so it looks like his newly minted wound is working it's way to being a full-fledged scar.

The doctors did their rounds. Victoria had shown up by then and was surprised that just like on Grey's Anatomy, they did actual rounds:

The guy here was reviewing for the day shift Samuel's status. Rowena and I overheard that at some point in the surgery, they needed to defibrillate his heart:
While that is the TV kind of scary, Samuel was awake and active. Whatever happened has passed. He is here and working on healing.

After the medical team moved on down the corridor, he asked for his sister. He had a pretty good rotation going with all three of us there to hold his hand and interpret his sign language:

Once they removed his tube, he wasted no time in trying to talk and asking for the specifics. Like the dog that his classmates gave him his last day at school:

Samuel is rather grumpy at the moment. He wants water. They removed his ventilator at about 11a and said that he would not be able to have a drink of water for about 6 hours. They want to make sure that he does not get water in his lungs. He asks each time he wakes up. He asks politely. He asks insistently, he will even whine (image that). He is getting the same answer and really really doesn't like it. He just noted that there must be water fountains on this floor.

Thank yous: To our very dear friends that were here most of the day with us yesterday, our most sincere thanks. Your presence, prayers, love, care, and kindness is a blessing that will be with us always.

To our church Family, thank you for your prayers, your comments on the blog, your calls, emails, all of it. Our church was a blessing when Samuel was born, during his first surgery, and the church we know and have loved is there now. We are very grateful for all the prayers and contact. Thank you to the pastors who have made sure that Samuel was known to the congregation and well covered in prayer, as well as the rest of us. Thank you.

Finally, to the angel named Brenda who brought us a tasty Lasagna, a lovely green bean casserole, cookies, fruit, and some really tasty "quiche muffins", to you and your family, Thank you. You put feet to prayers we could not articulate. This helped assure us that not only we could have some meals and snacks here, but that Victoria would be fed as well. We are lucky, and above all, blessed to have met such kind and loving people.