Cole is out of CVICU!

*UPDATE ON COLE*

Hello all-

Here are some pictures from the CVICU. We intentionally waited until a day AFTER his surgery to take these pics. This is a "PG 13" view of what he looked like with all of the wires, IVs, drainage tubes, and incisions. It was tough seeing him like this, but just "knowledge for knowledge sake," this is what he looked like. That last quote was for Cole's uncle, Joel, who loves to say that! :-)

We figured that if you wanted to see what it looked like, you would enjoy the pics. If the pics bother you, then please take comfort in the fact that Cole has been moved out of the CVICU and back into the NICU. He is on his way to the Progressive Care Unit and that is the last step before he comes home.

*Sunday*
Laura and I had a chance to go visit Cole yesterday and it really was the first time during this entire event where even a minor setback had occured. The nurses told us that he had sneezed a few times and that there was some excretions from his incisions. They placed him on a strong anti-biotic in order to ward off a potential infection and/or sickness. Also during this visit, Laura had a chance to feed him again and to change his diaper. This was a bit of a challenge since both of us were watching his oxygen levels like a junkyard dog while we were feeding him. While we should have been concentrating on him, we were concentrating on the machines. Then, when Laura changed his diaper, Cole decided it was time to relieve himself all over her hand. He marked his territory! I could envision him saying "move back daddy, this is MY mommy!" He then decided to perform an encore by ripping off some feces all over Laura's hand. We had heard about covering up the "unit" while changing a boy's diaper, but since he had just uninated, we thought he was on "E." We were wrong. He had a blast peeing and crapping all over her. I did managed to assist Laura by standing there with my jaw open observing. A lot of help I was!

When we returned home, we were both a little anxious about the possibility of having Cole at home and not knowing how to deal with all of this. Needless to say, it was a rough night.

*Monday*
Well, JOY came this morning! Laura went back to visit Cole this morning and as soon as she got there, they were "taking the handcuffs off" or unhooking him. They informed her that he was doing so well, that they wanted to move him straight into the Progressive Care Unit, but that there was not an available bed at the moment. Instead, they decided to send him back to the NICU just so he could be monitored. None of us minded that, because that meant that he would maybe get to see Debbie Morgan, who is a NICU nurse and a Godsend for Cole. She took care of him like one of her own the first time around, and we had requested her again. Today she had a different baby, but she is signed up to watch him tomorrow, IF he is still there. We are all hoping that he will be in the Progressive Care Unit by then.

Since we mentioned Debbie, we would be remiss if we did not also thank Sarah Love, who is our next door neighbor and who recommended Debbie to us. They both are truly appreciated by us and there is really nothing that we can do to repay them for what they have done for our family.

Laura was able to hold Cole for a long time today and sang several praise songs to him. He ate like a champ and looked into her eyes when she sang. I just thought that was awesome and wish I had been there to see it.

We are going back tonight and might post another update this evening/tomorrow morning.



*UPDATE ON DEANNA*

Since the previous update on Brianna (mom) and DeAnna (baby girl), we have been getting questions on how they are doing. We spoke to Brianna last night and she said that DeAnna has not gotten any worse, which is good news. She is still on the ECMO machine and needs to get stronger. Please continue to lift her up. Right now, every extra minute for her is a gift from God.