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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Making up for Lost Time and Lattes!

Day 4 = Fewer wires


A big step forward today. I am groggy, my voice is hoarse, I've undergone surgical trauma and have seen wires and tubes pulled out of various parts of my body. But one thing remains the same: I still refuse to take a bottle. 


The doctors and nurses discovered this last night, when my parents were sleeping. The experts finally deduced that my incessant screaming was translated thus: I AM HUNGRY! And so they scrambled to get me some of mommy's milk from the refrigerator and warmed it in a bottle. Silly them. Medical degrees aside, they didn't learn of my particular habits in med school. I refused the bottle and continued to cry. Finally someone resorted to using an eye dropper and fed me like a kitten. That I could handle.


All of this has transpired because the doctors decided against giving me a zondaZonda - now that's fun to say! I just love this word, zonda. It is Hebrew for feeding tube, but it sounds like a Latin dance. The zonda was inserted through my nose into my stomach. Because of my delicateness and all the bleeding from my nose and mouth, they opted to not reinsert the zonda (how many times can I use this word?) after extubation. So now I am fed manually. 


Mommy rushed to my side this morning to get the update and then the moment I awoke she was the one to feed me. She broke out the eye dropper and dipped into the milk. I was okay with that for awhile, but I couldn't comprehend why mommy of all people would be feeding me her milk in an alternative format. 


Unacceptable. I started to hint to mommy in various ways that I was ready to resume taking my lattes again. She didn't get the hint, so I cried a little, then a lot. Finally, Sherlock Mommy got the hint. And so I've resumed nursing, which is a fantastic sign of my recovery and prowess.


Now I am more often awake than not. I hear the incessant bells and whistles in the ICU. The lights bother my sleeping. All these foreign objects protruding from my body are becoming bothersome. And I am crying a lot more and that is helping to open up my lungs. My lungs are still full of fluid and other objects that appear cloudy in the xray. So that needs to come out so I can breathe better on my own. For now I am still in the ICU despite getting my hopes up of moving to the regular department today. I must stay on a little bit of O2 to keep my blood saturation in the correct range. Maybe tomorrow?


In some ways we will miss the action and tension of the ICU. One girl, a 3-year-old, has been here for two whole months. She woke up from a coma for a few moments after I arrived. Yesterday a 10-day-old girl moved in after an 8-hour heart surgery by my same surgeon! It was touch and go through the night, but she is stable today, thank God.


And thank you all for all your prayers, emails and comments. I wish I could respond to each one personally, but know that I am feeling the love over here in my little hospital bed!


See GongGong keeping bedside vigil?
And don't worry, that is iodine, not blood on the gauze.

My trademark swirl has also survived open heart surgery.
See? Everything is returning to normal!



8 comments:

  1. We're praying for you Daniel!!!!!!!! Have a speedy recovery in Yeshua's mighty name!

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  2. Awwwwwwww I can't take these pictures - I just want to squeeze him - so touching! Thank you Nicole for these great posts!Still praying and again, he will be fine! :)

    Mindy Ryan (Biddle House)

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  3. Sweet boy....sweet mama. We are praying for all of you. Nicole, keep cuddling and making good lattes. You are amazing!
    xo
    L

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  4. We're so happy to see you Daniel. You are all amazing. Love, Hugs, kisses and prayers for all

    Margaret & Elliot

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  5. Yay Daniel - you are the best. Praise God (and thank you doctors & nurses).

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