Happy Mother's Day

I had a good first mother's day today!  Claire had a good night and was looking good when we got there this morning.  As part of my mother's day gift, the doctors allowed Claire to hang out in the PCICU again one more day. Honestly, she really wasn't ready to be moved out today.  As the day went on, she got closer to that point.  They finally took out the arterial line (IV in an artery that measures blood pressure and also serves as a port for drawing blood).  They also removed the cerebral oxygen things that measure the oxygen levels going to Claire's brain and back.  She still has the IJ - IV in her neck in her jugular vein.  I am hoping that comes out tonight or in the morning. 

The nurse also let me hold Claire today for about 2 hours.  That was a GREAT mother's day gift to me as I have not been able to hold her since the morning of her surgery.  I also got to feed Claire about 2 ounces to see how she would do.  So far so good.  Since she got food, they were able to switch her from IV morphine to oral oxycodone and tylenol.  So she has nothing going through her IVs at this point. 

The abdominal drain is still in and will probably stay in until we go home according to the surgery team. 

My two great sisters came today and took my mom and I out to lunch for mother's day.  It was nice!  It was also doctor's orders.  The doctor said that if she let Claire stay in PCICU today I had to go out to eat and enjoy a mother's day lunch.  So we did. 

Julie and Amanda came back to Duke to visit Claire.  Rev. Berry also stopped by.  Mrs. Shirley and Cathy Banks showed up and surprised us too!   We had nice visits today. 

Claire had good nurses today and tonight which allowed us to leave Duke before 8 pm tonight.  Since she will probably go to the floor tomorrow, I know I need to get all the sleep I can get.  So that's the plan - to sleep good tonight.  I hope it works!

Still didn't get a smile out of Claire today, but maybe tomorrow.  She was more alert today when she was awake. 

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy 1st mother's day!  I really appreciate it and it was a good day!  I hope everyone else had a great mother's day as well!  And I would like to wish my mom and mother in law a happy mother's day because they have been right there for us all the time, but especially this past year when we needed them most. 

Love,
The Scott Family