Back to general care!

If you find yourself still amazed that our girl, Bernie, spent barely 24 hours in the PCTU, then you are not alone! We moved yet again and progress continues. This also means that we are out of the Mott House and living out of Bernie's hospital room once again. I joked with one of the nurses saying, "THIS is the heart surgery experience you give most people?! How did I miss this the first 3 times around?!?"

Probably the biggest milestone we experienced yesterday was getting out of bed and walking to use the bathroom. If you were impressed with her ability to get through the surgery itself, that almost seems small compared to the monumental task of getting her up and back to doing life afterward, especially in such a short period of time post operatively. It took four of us to move her 10 feet from her bed to the toilet. We had to transport her IV pole with about 4 pumps running, her chest tube drainage box, and all of the leads still attached to her aching, shell-shocked body also hanging around her abdomen. One person had to move the IV pole, another to carry the chest tube box and maneuver the tube, another person to hold Bernie's hands, and a fourth person to run interference regarding the physical environment. She will probably have her chest tube for another day or two. It's more painful than the actual sternotomy at this point. It's an open-ended tube sticking out from right around the base of her rib cage  that collects excess fluid from the chest cavity which is typically removed 2-4 days after surgery. Once this is removed, we can expect Bernie to be much more motivated to participate in physical activities.

Thank you to those sharing this journey with your children. I know that may seem an odd thing for me to be grateful for at this point, but it really does matter. Many times we want to hide the hard things from our kids. I understand to an extent, but something amazing happens when children are part of relevant, difficult paths and presented with the opportunity to understand rather than to remain oblivious. This is where the first seeds of compassion, empathy, and courage are planted. This is where they find out that people can do really hard things and come out stronger. When seeds of oblivion are encouraged to grow, those fruits can look more like fear, apathy, and ignorance.  Children part of guided and appropriate understanding learn that they don't have to be scared of people with complex medical problems and can actually be part of a helpful, healing solution. Thank you for those of you doing this kind of planting this spring as you discuss Bernie's situation and make our current lifestyle part of your discussions, prayers, and priorities.

Bernie is off of her IV morphine and taking her pain medication all orally right now. Her dressing from the sternotomy will come off this afternoon.   She's been up twice to use the bathroom. Here's smidgen of a visual on that one. Such a basic detail of life that we take for granted. We do so many complex tasks each day that usually go unnoticed.

Bern visited with her sisters last night and again this morning. Auntie Annie and Grandma Patty are also helping wrangle big girls and provide some nice distractions for Bern.

Thank you to our line up of support soldiers bringing food and support in so many forms. Bernie loves you!

http://youtu.be/twESCibZnKo