"Great is the human who has not lost his childlike heart"

  Good morning!  Yes a very good morning it is!  I'm sure most of you have heard that saying...one step foward, two steps back.... well yesterday for Dani it was all steps foward and no steps back!   When I woke in the morning yesterday first thing I did was to call and see how Dani made it through the night.  Dion told me she was feeling much better and had actually eaten half of a banana muffin and some of her breakfast on her tray.  He said she had gotten up early to walk and had asked the nurse to take her off the narcotic drugs and put her on motrin.  She said she would ask for pain meds when she felt she needed it but she wanted to clear her head and she felt the meds were making her sick and not helping her recover properly. 
    When I got to the hospital she was looking great!   I mean great!  She was in her bed and was talking in her old usual voice.  She was actually perky... I couldnt believe my eyes.  She was even swallowing better.   I dont know what was causing the blockage the day before but she had resumed eating and drinking, and was being careful to take small bites just in case but all seemed fine with her swallowing now.   Dion and I went down and had a sandwich and we stopped and bought Dani a milkshake on the way back to her room.   She loved it. 
    I made a phone call to her Dad because he had been feeling a little down and was worring about Dani and I wanted him to hear her voice so he would be reassured she was doing better.  They must have talked on the phone for at least 15 min!  It was so nice to see her try and cheer her dad up as she knew he had been worried.   All I could do was smile.

   I still dont know what was causing the blockage but I have a couple ideas.  One is maybe  swelling from the trach she had in surgery.  Another would be the flem she had been coughing up . There was a few occasions when she actually coughed up a thick mucus (dont wanna get discusting here) ball of flem and each time after she had done it she said she could breath better.  So maybe it was causing an obstruction in her throat.  And my last theory is that her heart was beating so fast that she could feel it in her neck (doc said it was normal right after surgery) and it was making it hard for her to swallow with the constant pounding .  She even said it was hard to breath at times because of it..... in any case... she is doing great now!   
    They plan on going ahead and discharging her today.  It will probably be late in the day.  From what i've seen they have a whole slue of docs and nurses come in and discuss all the do's and dont's of going home after open heart surgery.  We will need to make sure she gets visits from a home care nurse while in the hotel.  And she will have regular appointments for them to draw blood to measure her coumadin levels.  Im thinking it will be around 4 or 5 pm today instead of early this AM.
    I'm sitting here debating on weather or not to go to the hospital right away or just wait it out and let Dani and Dion deal with all the discharge stuff so that Dion can take notes with his brail note.  I want them to realize that I will be leaving on wednesday and its time for me to step back a little and let them take  charge of whats coming in the next phase of her recovery.  I also want the Docs and nurses to realize I wont be there after tuesday evening. (leaving philly on wednesday morning).  And they need a good supprot staff to make sure Dani continues to get well in this next stage of recovery.  Believe me its a hard decision!  Yesterday we watched videos about discharge and what to expect and how to proceed at home.  It was all good stuff for Dion to hear and he did take notes.  No lifting for Dani...her diet should be changed....ect ect ect.... so im feeling I need to just keep my distance and let them go through this phase together.  My rolercoaster ride is soon coming to an end.  Or is motherhood just one long rolercoaster ride that never ends?  lol  maybe.....  :)  Have a great day everyone I know i will!    Vel