Day 26....Out of the ICU!

This afternoon we moved back to the pediatric floor! We are blessed to have been assigned a wonderful, extra spacious room....Baird 524 for anyone who'd like to know. This is the 10th room that Samuel has occupied since we started this phase of our adventure 6 weeks ago!

Samuel has made some great progress in the last two days! Getting off the Nicardipine drip and out of the ICU was a big step! Despite lowering his pain medication dose (part of the process of getting him out of here), Samuel is moving around more comfortably and has been rating his pain most often at a 5 or 6 (out of 10) instead of the previous 8 or 9. He actually requested some food (watermelon and herring in sour cream!) and has had a few bites of something each day. He is steadier on his feet and able to walk a little farther. Yesterday we took an outing to the main lobby of the hospital. Samuel walked for a bit and then rode in the wheelchair the rest of the way. His nurse wheeled him outside for a few breaths of fresh, cold air.

In addition to getting weaned off the Nicardipine, another objective over the last two days has been to begin transitioning some of Samuel's IV meds to oral meds. That means he is now down to only one IV pole with six pumps instead of two poles with nine pumps. Having to manuever only one pole sure makes getting into the bathroom easier! Right now, about half of his 20 medications are oral and have to be dissolved in water and pushed down his feeding tube. Eventually, Samuel will be able to swallow them all in pill form. That needs to happen before he can be discharged.

This evening Samuel had a nice visit with Kevin and Tyler. He was able to sit up for about an hour and a half to play a couple games. He was wiped out for the rest of the night, but it is great to see what he is able to do on a good day. Lord willing, he'll have many more good days ahead in the near future.