Linus Is Still In The CVICU & The Big Boys Brawl

Trina and I are trading places every day or two. I stay with the big boys while she stays with Linus and vise versa. It's so hard not being together, but at least this way we get to see more of the boys. We haven't really seen each other for more than 30min every few days, though.

Linus has continued to have complication after complication so he's still in the CVICU. So much for 2-3 days, eh? It's ok. I never believe their estimates. Linus doesn't ever follow the rules of logic and planning. It's just not his style.

I left his room around 2am Friday morning to take a nap and when I got back a few hours later he was on a CPAP. Apparently in my absence he had gone into respiratory distress. He was breathing very rapidly & his oxygen saturation was low. An xray confirmed that his lungs were full of fluid. The doctor decided to try him on a CPAP instead of reintubating him. I'm so glad he did, because it worked and is much less invasive. He was on the CPAP for the bulk of the day and was able to be weaned down to a nasal cannula then nothing the next day.

Saturday night I was taking pictures of him and his eyes crossed. That had never happened before so I went to get the nurse. When we got back, his eyes were almost back to normal. She looked him over and said he was probably just tired. Uh...no. She left and when he did it again I went to get her again. She saw it "full force" the second time and agreed a doctor should see it. He said that since he's alert and his vitals are normal that it didn't appear to be a seizure. He mentioned that he may have always done this and that I might not have noticed. Uh...no. It came on suddenly and he's been doing it off/on since then. Sometimes it's both eyes, but it can be only the right or left. When it's only one eye, he can track things or look at you with the "good eye" and the other one stays stuck inward. At this point we have no idea what's causing it and are hoping it magically disappears. If it doesn't, we'll have to follow up with an ophthalmologist and possibly a neurologist.

Today Linus's lungs were wet again so he was having trouble breathing...again. They lowered his feeds, upped his current diuretic's dose and added a second diuretic. When Trina asked why this kept happening they said that his mitral valve is leaking pretty bad and that may be the culprit. They're going to start him back on his heart failure medicine. The hope is that it will give his heart a rest and the newly remodeled valves will heal faster stopping the leakage. My poor boy. Will this never end?

These pleading eyes kill me.

He keeps a firm grip on my finger all the time. Half the day is spent with my arm half numb and cocked at a funny angle just so he can reach it easier.

Getting a bedside echo while hooked up to the CPAP. How uncomfortable does that thing look?

Sleeping much easier after the CPAP is removed.

We don't have a mobile so Linus has taken to watching TV.

Law & Order is a kid's show, right?

Both eyes crossed in.

One eye crossed, one eye looking at me.

Earlier today Dexter was hanging out on his playmat and I was holding Simon. I put him down next to Dex so I could run to the restroom. I don't get much time to myself, but I should at least get to pee alone, right? The boys started squealing and there was a thumping noise. What the hell? When I get back out to the living room I see them beating the crap out of each other. Apparently they both want the funky hanging zebra-like toy and it has made them forget their manners. I grab the camera, of course, and snap a few pics of the fight. Then I say "Boys! What are you doing?" and they go still. Both of them put on their most innocent faces and look at me like they don't know what I could possibly be referring to. Brats. :)

Kung Fu fighting!

"Yes mother? We were just quietly discussing how much we both like the zebra."