Not to the Eastside, but to the floor. Yes, Ayden has taken the next big step in his recovery. He is no longer in the PCCU. His new home is in the "Acute Care" area. This seems to be somewhere in between an ICU and a regular patient room.
He is still hooked up to a monitor, but it is much, much smaller and does not have as many bells and whistles. His nurse is not constantly in his room, but instead only checks his vitals at regular intervals. Mom and Dad are now expected to be much more involved in his care. Not only is the situation a hybrid ICU/regular room one, it is also a combination of being at home and being at the hospital. The nurses will check his vitals every now and then for their "charting," but we change (and weigh) his diapers, console him if he is unhappy, etc. Thus, this is a big change, not only for Ayden, but for Allison and I, as well. My fears regarding his physical well being are now slowly being replaced with the typical I'm-now-responsible-for-another-human-life type fears. What the heck do I know about caring for a child?
His move was not today's only development. By lunchtime, his final chest drainage tube was gone. He is now down to only a PICC line (which they use to draw or give blood) in his right leg and the feeding tube up his nose.
Speaking of feeding, Ayden had his first "swallow study" today. (Side note: the test is done by a speech pathologist; I had no idea this area was part of that profession's repertoire.) This study determines if Ayden can swallow food, rather than aspirate it - i.e., breath it into his lungs. Aspirating food or liquid into your lungs is bad news, obviously. For some reason, babies that have surgery like Ayden's typically initially lose the ability to swallow normally. That part of their body just becomes temporarily weak. Thus, the vast majority of them need a feeding tube inserted before they can go home (a real feeding tube: one directly into their side, not up the nose).
Anywho, back to Ayden. Again, he had his first such study today. He apparently aspirated using a regular nipple (stop laughing - Phil, you especially - this is serious business). When the speech pathologist tried a slower flow nipple (I said stop laughing), he did better. She now wants him to work on his "coordination" over the next few days with a small amount of food and the slow flow, then she'll try again. The odds are very much stacked against him that he'll be able to go home without a feeding tube, but maybe he will continue to impress the hospital staff (he has apparently already impressed the Acute Care nurses with his dashing good looks - Allison reported that there was a veritable phalanx of them that came to see him after he moved in this afternoon).
God continues to be so good to us.
Keep doing well Ayden!!!! Impress them all!
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