One Step Closer to Home

Sam continues to do really well; so well, that he was moved out of CICU to the cardiac step-down unit today!  We are so happy about this.  He now has his own room that is quieter, and Laura is now allowed to stay over night with him.

He has been doing better with his feeds, also.  This morning they gave him an NJ tube to deal with the reflux and gagging he was experiencing.  An NJ tube is basically the same as an NG tube except it goes a little deeper, bypassing the stomach and into the small intestine.  He’s been getting continuous feeds through this all day without any instances of spitting up.  They have been and will continue to increase the volume of formula he’s been getting.  This will continue throughout the night, and if there are no problems, they will decide tomorrow what the next course of action will be.  Eventually Sam will go back to the regular NG tube and will probably come home with that.  Then, after everything gets back to normal, we’ll see about scheduling a swallow study to see if he can go to normal feeding.

So, we’re on a steady course for coming home.  Sam had his neck IV removed last night, so, besides the feeding tube, he only has one line attached to him (other than monitoring wires).  Hopefully it won’t be long until we’re all home together again!