Post-op days 8 & 9

Yesterday, the cardiologist decided to take Caleb off of oxygen and then do an echocardiogram. He wanted to see how Caleb's heart was doing without the oxygen, because one of our goals is to not have to go home with it. He needed to be off of the oxygen for at least thirty minutes before the echo. After almost four hours, we were still waiting for the echo tech. Caleb's O2 level started to drop, so the nurse turned the oxygen back on. Apparently, the echo tech was finally ready for us about that time and didn't want to wait thirty more minutes. We waited four hours, but he/she couldn't wait thirty minutes. Hmmm. The cardiologist decided to postpone the echo until Sunday.

I took the "night shift" with Caleb on Saturday night. Shortly before 10:30, he started having spasms again. It had been 1.5 days since we saw them... I had hoped to never see them again, but no such luck. The attending cardiologist for the night decided to give him a dose of Ativan. That's the same anti-anxiety medication that Caleb received the other time he had spasms and when he was irritable after surgery. The spasms stopped immediately and he slept well for the rest of the night.

This morning, the cardiologist decided to postpone the echo again. Because the Ativan hasn't completely worn off, he doesn't want to take Caleb off of oxygen today. Fingers crossed that we can try going off of oxygen and having an echo tomorrow. At about 8:30, the nurse told me that the neurologist would be stopping by soon. It's 3:15, and he still hasn't shown up. Caleb has slept most of the day, and I haven't noticed any more spasms.

It's been nine days since Caleb's surgery. I had hoped the hospital stay would be 7-10 days. Now that we're almost to the ten day mark, I bet we'll be here longer. How much longer?... who knows. When the cardiologist mentioned this morning that Caleb might be discharged in another day or two, I told him that I didn't feel comfortable being discharged until we know what to do about the spasms. No one has been able to explain what they are or why he's having them. I might be willing to move on without a diagnosis if I could just figure out what to do about them. When Caleb has them now, they give him the anti-anxiety medicine through an IV. But what are we supposed to do if this happens when we're out of the hospital?!