Caden went in for a post op appointment today just nine days after open-heart surgery. He was given two thumbs up by the cardiologist. They looked him over pretty carefully including performing an echo cardiogram. The echo looked great and all of Caden’s numbers O2 sats, blood pressure, and heart rate were all good.
The itchiness that Caden was experiencing is now much better. The last of the steri-strips were removed today during the cardiologist visit and that seems to have helped the itching a lot. Caden also had the last of his non-desolving stitches removed. There were only two where the chest drain tubes were removed last week. The stitches for the chest cavity and the area where the pacemaker was removed have self-desolving stitches.
Caden will be restricted from certain physical activities until the beginning of November. For instance, Caden cannot participate in physical therapy for the next month. He cannot be lifted from under the arms because the chest bone tissue needs to mend and right now it is only held together by a few twisted wires. Caden can go back to speech and occupational therapy (fine motor) immediately. We were told to allow him to do what he feels comfortable with at home, but do not push him.
Caden has been having trouble with feedings since surgery. We cut the rate at which the pump delivers food through the g-tube but that has provided limited relief. We have not cut back on the amount of formula other than to stop the afternoon snack that we were giving Caden. He has shown irritation at a majority of his feedings since surgery. I suspect that Caden’s body is working a little harder on healing his heart right now and his digestive system has not quite got back to 100% yet. Please continue to pray for Caden’s whole body healing and comfort.
Prayer
Praise and Thanks
- Caden’s Rapid recovery
- Technology and skills that makes heart surgery possible
- Health insurance and Tefra Medicaid!
- Donated annual leave (over 100 hours donated by my coworkers)
- Nana’s recent retirement that allows her to stay with our family
- A super strong support system at Seacoast and within the GrowingKids Community **
**Support System: Thank You again to all who have come, called, twittered, emailed or cooked for us this week!! There is nothing more comforting than being held in the firm hand of the body of Christ.
Prayer Requests
- Comfort and ease of digestion during feedings
- Continued healing and mending of all incisions made on Caden (he is still sore)
- Continued protection from infections and illness
- Whole body healing for Caden
- Continued strength, rest, and peace for Sherry and me.
- Protection over all our family’s health.