Post-Op Day 1: Movin' On Up!

We are 28 hours post-op and doing well! The past few hours have been on the up and we have lots to be happy about. Dr. Keating saw us around 7:30 this morning and said that Ryan looked great. He said that they could remove the drain from his head and approved us moving into a room outside of the PICU. This also meant that he could have his catheter and arterial line removed. He said that this would be super easy and that they would just slide out. But, it was not very easy. They did not just slide out. At all. The catheter removal made him start to fuss, and the arterial line was ROUGH. It was stitched into his wrist so the nurse had to cut the stitches and then slowly pull it out. Poor Mimi and Papa T had to be here to witness it all. It was pretty upsetting because had to be held down as it all happened. After it was removed, we had to apply a lot of pressure to stop the bleeding.

This was the most unhappy we'd seen Ryan pretty much ever. 

After about 10 minutes of screaming and crying, he was calm and happy to lay on our chest.  He slept for almost an hour after it. We were so glad to get to hold him. I can't even articulate the frustration and sadness that we felt just watching him lay there in pain, not able to pick him up or help (I spent a lot of time kneeling on his bed humming and pressing my face against his because it was the only thing that made him semi-content).  During his nap, we learned that his private room opened up on the 5th floor of Children's in the Neuroscience wing.

The room is HUGE and has its own bathroom with a shower. Even better, we have a view of the Washington Monument and will be able to watch the fireworks tonight! A first for all three members of the Johnson Family. 

Ryan got to watch baseball with Daddy!

At this point we were fearing that his eyes were going to be swollen shut.  Fortunately it went down as abruptly as it came and Ryan began showing his bright and happy personality again.

His swelling has been like a rollercoaster - even as I write this blog. Confession - these blog posts take me a LONG time because of all of the interruptions. I would say that could explain the clustercrazy nature of my thoughts but that's pretty much how I always think/write. It can explain the range of developments that I share though. This morning he looked pretty good. Again, not nearly as bad as I expected. His eyes weren't swollen shut and he seemed pretty happy. As the morning went on (and as we moved into our room) he looked much more swollen. He looked like a little boxer but was pretty happy and interested in the move. 

As his bandages get looser (and he starts to tug at them) we are noticing a huge difference. His forehead is already wider. Dr. Keating said that he saw this as he was bandaging his head in the operating room. It's really unbelievable that we can see results so immediately. Good for you, science. 

Now we are settled into our room and feeling great. We had a surprise visitor - one of my students from this year and her mother! They brought Ryan a stuffed animal and balloons and he let out his first "Roonie Scream" out of excitement in days. Now Grammie and Poppie are visiting and he's giggling and playing. It is such a relief. It's like a six-month burden has been lifted off our shoulders and it feels amazing.