Sunday, June 22, 2008

My Ruby Slippers Worked!!!

It's true, there is no place like home.

I must apologize for not updating yesterday. We got home yesterday morning around 11 AM, but I decided to surprise Andy and not tell him we were coming home. He worked the late shift, and didn't get home till around 11 pm. Rhett and I made a sign for the front door......not like the car in the driveway didn't give us away though!!

I talked to Andy like four times on the phone yesterday and it was so hard not to tell him. He kept calling my sister and my mom too, (Who were also in on it) and they just laughed every time they hung up.

He was so happy to see us. I'm a brat though aren't I?!?!?

Rhett is thriving at home. I changed his dressing yesterday and traumatized my mom who was helping me hold him down. His stomach looks like a war zone, and although his scars have healed from his open heart surgery, and his hernia surgery, they are still there, and scar on his chest from his heart surgery is only about 2 centimeters from his new incision on his tummy, and that one goes down to his belly button. Then of course there are the scars from chest tubes, pacer wires, and drains that he has had in his belly, and other places. The chest tube scars look like bullet holes. Especially the one that they did in an emergency when he was 12 months. It's not as pretty looking as the ones from his heart surgery.

I feel so bad for him, but really though, he is no worse for the wear. He is thriving now that he is home. He is only on Motrin and Tylenol. We are alternating them every four hours. All the other kids came home today from their grandparents and Rhett was so excited to see them. He has been running around like crazy. I expect him to crash for a couple of hours soon.

It's always amazing to me how well he acts when he gets home. You would never know that this kid just had major surgery.

His cardiologist came in and showed me that there is the slightest amount of shrinkage in Rhett's heart since March. It seems that the airway surgery has done it's job. We can't expect a whole lot of shrinkage...(anyone else thinking Seinfeld here???)....because it's taken 2 years for his heart to get as enlarged as it is. But for now we seem to be on the right track. I asked his cardio if since his saturation's have been really good on room air...(97-98) if we could take him off of his O2 during the day. He said that we would discuss it when we go see him in July and they do the Echo. But he is cautiously optimistic that we should be able to go back to just O2 at night.

We have to have a sleep study done again though, because we trialed him off of the O2at night in the hospital, and he did fine for the first 2 hours, but then he dipped to the high 80's and stayed there. So he is still having saturation issues at night. But really we are on the road to recovery, and having his pulmonary hypertension controlled, I just know it!

I will post pictures later of Rhett with the new puppies we have. They are about 3 weeks old, and opened their eyes while we were gone. There is one that Rhett is absolutely in love with, and that seems to share his adoration. They lay together and watch Elmo.

Things are good, I came home to a huge stack of medical bills that arrived in the mail, and I haven't opened them yet, I am going to save it for Monday. Right now there are more important things to do than worry about that. Like I said, things are good.

16 comments:

Heather said...

Welcome home guys! We hope that things become more settled now with this latest part of the journey behind you. We can't wait to see some pictures and there certainly is no place like home to grow, thrive and just plan feel better.

Love from Zoey and crew

Niksmom said...

YAY!!! Not surprised his O2 sats dipped at night...with the recovery from surgery and the meds..he might not have been able to breathe as deeply. Sounds like he is well on the road to recovery, though! Can't wait to see the pics of Rhett adn the puppies!

Mp said...

We're glad your finally home!!!

Hugs,
Mike & Family

Carla (Choosing His Joy) said...

Yeah, I am glad you are home! Praise God that things are going so well : ) Please do post a picture of Rhett with the puppy, that sounds adorable. Hope things continue to go well, you are an amazing mom!
Love,
Carla

Tina:0) said...

How wonderful that you are home! And what a great suprise for Andy.

I agree about opening the mail - there are more important things, especially when all your kids are home & playing together!

BTW - I had to laugh at the Seinfeld comment, because that's exactly what I was thinking when I started to read that!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Tina & Vaeh (Jon & Gabby, too!)

Terri said...

I am so glad to hear that Rhett is home. And what an awesome surprise!

RK said...

Yay!! Welcome home, and hope you have many more good days!! I'm gonna get this stuff mailed this week, I promise!! AND we'll toss in some goodies for Mr. Rhett also. :o)

Anonymous said...

YaY! Praise God things are going so well!! I'm glad you guys are home!!

~T

My Three Sons said...

Great news Pam. Sounds like Rhett is picking up where he left off. Good for him. It's nice to hear that he is full of energy.
To bad you didn't take a pic of Andy's face when he walked in to his surprise. I bet he's loving every minute of you guys coming home. Hope this is a good sign to a great summer!!!!

Kaci

Aimee said...

Glad to hear that you're home! Oh and the mail, it can even wait till Tuesday or Wednesday...

Melissa @ Banana Migraine said...

What a fun surprise for Andy! So glad that you are home and Rhett is doing well.

The Flying Circus Mom said...

Here are the rules:
1. Choose a person in the Bible who most represents who you are.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration, scripture or bible story if you like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4 .Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!
ps If you are not a religious person, please feel free to use classic literature instead.

Laura said...

YAY!!!!! I am so happy for BOTH of you! Keep up the great work Rhett! (((hugs)))

mommy to Kaden, Brody and angel Ava said...

I am glad you guys are home!!! Enjoy!!!

You know, Rhett and Kaden should get together and share their scar stories. Kaden is right in there with Rhett. When Ava was in the hospital, Kaden would point to her scar from heart surgery and then lift up his shirt in front of her.

Well, have fun and relax now that the surgery is behind you guys.

Thinking of you guys always...

Angel Gabi's Mommy said...

Glad your home...where you belong!!!

{{{HUGS}}}

Anonymous said...

Great news! I am glad to hear that Rhett is home.