Monday, March 24, 2014

Day 4 - Post Op Pulmonary Valve

So, last night we had gotten moved to TCU (Transitional Care Unit).  He said he woke up in the middle of the night and was in more pain (not near what it was the rest of the weekend) than usual and they gave him another oxycodone.  Other than that, he's been just on Motrin and Tylenol.  He was walking everywhere they needed him to go, like xray, with no issues at all.  He would get up like he never had anything done at all.  The nurse told him to walk to the nurse's station until she saw him get out of bed and walk with ease.  Then she told him to make some rounds instead.  He drastically improved last night.  They redid ekg, echo and xrays today.  There's some pretty good pressure in the valve right now, but they said that will get better.  It's a big valve that they had to make smaller at one end to attach.  They still think he's going to grow, so they went with a bigger size bovine valve.  His lungs are still showing fluid on them, but they think once he really become a little more active that will absorb, but they put him on lasix for the next week just in case.  We go back (2 1/2 hours each way) to the surgeon on Monday for another check up and back to the cardiologist at the end of the month.

Needless to say they were so impressed that they sent us home late this afternoon.  Insurance had us approved through Thursday as a week is pretty standard for this procedure.  This 4 days (including the day of the surgery) is pretty much unheard of.  He still hopes to go back to wrestling this fall and I do think he's tough enough to do all of this.  I'm really impressed. He was upset with that chest tube.  And he did get very visibly upset.  It never once made him weak.  It could have made anyone on this Earth cry.  But his recovery has been amazing and he IS very strong and very tough!

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