3West Stepdown

After a great night of sleep.. Owen in ICU and the hotel for me.. we are having a wonderful day! Owen got a wipe down bath this morning followed by four laps around the PICU. He may have been motivated to continue walking because of the entourage of nurses that cheered him on each lap we took. 

As soon as we got to our room, it was time for rounds with the 3West cardiac team.  They insisted on us placing a second IV for access.  I tried everything to get out of it, but they really felt more comfortable with backup access in case his other IV goes bad.  So after a few tears and one poke, we have two IVs in his right hand.

Before noon, we were moved upstairs to the step down unit.  Yay.  The one good thing about being listed for transplant is the private isolation rooms.  Owen insisted on walking up and pushing his IV pole the entire way.

Owen was excited to entertain a whole new crew of nurses.  He was in full comic mode and was pretty hilarious.  Dr R. came in for a visit to see how Owen was doing and Owen was laughing hysterically.  He had used his IV pole to trap his nurse between the chair and the pole.  He thought he was a funny guy and she was never going to escape.  Obviously, he's doing great!!

While his nurse was getting the wires untangled and Owen settled in, he used her phone to call and order his own lunch.  Chicken strips for the third meal in a row.. yuck... with a side of fruit/veggies and a bottled water.

Lunch came while he was settled in watching (for the fourth time since we were admitted) Mars needs Moms. 

We were also informed that we should be wearing these hefty masks around the hospital when not in our room.  They are doing construction next door working hard to build the new LPCH but digging that deep in to the ground stirs up a lot of yucky stuff, so they are being cautious.  Owen's nurse wanted to make his mask fun.... He loves it!

We are having a relaxing day.  We will continue monitoring the Milrinone for today.  Tomorrow we will restart his Captopril, or even switch to (twice a day) Enalapril.  Owen gets to take a real bath tonight in his private bathroom which he is pretty excited to do.  We will know a weekly plan tomorrow when the full cardio team is back.  Have a good night!