Karter's View

~*From the Hospital bed of Karter McHam*~

So I was moved to the eighth floor on Monday. Mom and I were both excited!!! We thought this meant that we would finally be going home and I could loose all of my wires and tubes. Unfortunately the doctor came in yesterday with a different idea. The good news is I will be going home soon; however, I will have to have oxygen at home and possibly my feeding tube. Yes that is right my mom is having to learn how to put in and take out my feeding tube plus she is now learning all about oxygen. The reason I have to have oxygen at home is due to the complexity of my repair one of my valves has become leaky. This leaky valve is causing me to continue to produce extra fluid which would like to go to my lungs. Therefore my lungs are not really getting the time they need to heal on their own. So I will go home with my oxygen tank to give time to my lungs to be able to heal properly. I will be on oxygen for 6 to 8 weeks. The doctors feel that I will be able to then have healthy lungs that can guard off this extra production of fluid. In the future I will have this leak fixed, unfortunately we do not know exactly when. The doc said it all depended on me and the severity of the leak. They have four different stages for my repair and for this valve. These stages are trivial, moderate, mild, severe. Right now my valve and my repair are both trivial so they are not of great concern. I will regularly be monitored to determine my stage which will give my daddy and mommy more of an idea of my next surgery.

Although I try to pull out my oxygen cords on my face Nurse Valerie always makes sure that it goes right back in. I tried to tell my momma on her but she for some reason agreed that I needed this cannula in my nose. I can not wait to have it out!! My PT and OT (physical and occupational therapy) ladies have been coming in everyday to play with me. They bring in lots of neat toys for me to look out and reach. They even let me kick them with my legs!!! After they come and play I get really tired and need a nap but they all said they understand. Mom loves it when I nap because she gets to nap too! Apparently she is still catching up on her sleep from our first night on the eighth floor. We had a really busy night that night! Monday night I went to bed after my last feed at 12:00 pm, then at 2:00 am they came and woke me and mommy up to draw some blood, at 3:00 am I got to eat again, shortly after I kicked out my IV and had to get another one, at 4:00 am I had to go have a photo shoot ( I am still confused as to why they need to take a black and white photo of my insides...guess it is as pretty as me on the outside!), then we came back for a quick nap but I got hungry and ate again at 7:00 am. After eating at 7 the Doctor, shadowers, and nurses all came and did their rounds. They must love me because I got to see about 20 different people! Due to all of this commotion mom and I had to wait till way later that afternoon to get in a good nap. My mommy was starting to scare me with the black bags under her eyes but her nap did her some good and now she seems to be refreshed!

I hope to be able to go home Friday morning. I can not wait to see my sister again. I miss her, although I do not miss getting pulled across the floor or sharing my swing! Well guys I am going to go back to my nap time, I just wanted to give you all an update just like mommy does! :)

Hope you all enjoyed my news!

Love,

Karter Ashton-Faith McHam or as I like to be called Karter Bear!

P.S. I AM FEEDING FROM A BOTTLE!!!