I will not lie: it has been an exhausting day. This has probably been the most difficult day, from our perspective. Watching Kiran struggle through withdrawing off the strong meds he has been on is heartbreaking. It doesn’t seem fair, after all he’s endured, that he has to struggle through this journey as well. 

I wish I could take all the pain and discomfort away. 

He has needed two doses of Ativan to help manage the withdrawal and wean him from it all a bit more slowly. No more strong drugs though – only Tylenol and ibuprofen to manage pain at this point. 

Because the withdrawal upset has messed with his heart rate and blood pressure, we have not moved from the CVICU. The arterial blood line is still in. But we’ve held him quite a bit today (though he’s really coming back into himself and rests better in bed most of the time). He also got his post-op echo done. We were told clinically speaking, he should be able to move to the floor tomorrow, but it will depend on bed availability. 

Hopeful today was the worst of it. We did catch glimpses of our baby boy – some smiles, a few small giggles, his preference of resting in bed versus in our arms….

And his voice is definitely coming back!  Poor sweet boy. He is sleeping peacefully right now – I hope it continues or I don’t think I’ll be able to leave his side tonight.