Back in Ward 23B

Hi! Oscar is out of PICU and back in Ward 23B (Heart Ward) in the High Dependency Unit - HDU, which is a room on the ward with a few more nurses and machines per square foot. (Next step in a few days will be back into a "side room" - ie our own room like we were in before).


He freaked us out a bit yesterday in PICU. He was more awakeish and restless than we had expected and the staff just weren't our good mates on 23B, so we were glad when he was transferred this morning - after only about 18 hours in PICU (we had expected 48 or so). He had been extubated (breathing tube removed) last night as he started pretty much breathing for himself quite soon after arriving in PICU - but he is still on a bit of oxygen just to help him out. So before leaving PICU he just needed some drains removed and little stuff and he was ready to go...


Needless to say 23B welcomed us back with champagne and chocolates, with seven of the top surgeons on hand to congratulate Oscar in person - they are so good to us - before settling us into a dark corner of HDU where he is currently sleeping soundly. OK well there are some lies and hopefulnesses here but you get the picture.


Brennan.


I'd just like to add that we wouldn't have been writing with such good humour this morning.... just so you don't think we've breezed through this without skipping a beat - here is the truth... 
It's been a terribly hard couple of days and I have had to leave the room a number of times to catch my breath and to let the nurses do some of the nasty things. It goes against every instinct to just standby and watch your defenseless baby go through all of that and I truly hope yesterday will remain the toughest day of Oscar's life (fullstop). 


It was like a weight had lifted as soon as we got back to the ward today, he calmed down almost immediately and I certainly did. The hardest thing for me was that he didn't close his eyes at all in PICU even though he was definitely out of it most of the time and he just looked really scared and unhappy, now he has eyes closed and is enjoying having his hand held. We even had a small first smile for Dolly one of the nurses (who is a baby whisperer) when she came to visit him tonight!!!!! Lets hope there are many more of them in the coming days. 
We continue to gather much strength from the other amazing parents, children and babies who are on this journey with us and can't imagine doing it without them all. We will be a bit lost when we go home (but not for long).
Thanks for the visits, calls, texts, emails and food (you did a great job Matt and the card wasn't even inappropriate for a change).


Fiona