PAIN

It's been a very hectic thirty-six hours. We finally have a moment to breathe and are able to update you.

Yesterday morning, Kc and I arrived at the PICU at 7:00 a.m. and were told the doctors had stopped his fentanyl and were wanting Noah to wake up a bit. We spent the next twelve hours trying to comfort a little boy who was VERY uncomfortable. The doctors weren't able to keep on top of his pain, so our Little Man would thrash around and try to get up. All that movement caused quite a bit of secretions which he needed to cough out. The coughing caused tremendous pain to the incision site where they removed the rib graft, which in turn caused him to thrash around even more. It was a vicious cycle and no matter what comfort we tried to provide {pain medications, holding, rocking, singing, Charlie} it simply would not take the pain away. He kept signing "all done" and "go" which just broke my heart. Finally, at around 7:00 p.m. the doctors started him on a low dose of morphine. This seemed to cut the edge, but they had to increase the dose and give it more frequently to help settle Mr. Man. I went back to our hotel that night and Kc {the most wonderful Daddy-0 in the whole wide world} volunteered to stay at Noah's bedside.

Noah had brief moments of sleep {the first he had gotten since the fentanyl was stopped} but was still quite restless. Daddy-O spent the night trying to comfort Mr. Man while preventing him from crawling out of the crib, suctioning his trach, giving him Charlie, and rubbing his back. The most amazing Nana, who traveled up to Stanford with us, came in at 3:30 a.m. so Kc could lay down on the reclining chair and catch a few winks.

I got in at 6:30 a.m. and sent Kc back to the hotel to get some true sleep. Noah's doctor took him off the morphine and switched him to Toradol which seems to have done the trick. By 8:00 a.m. this morning, Noah FINALLY settled into a deep sleep and has been that way most of the day. He occasionally wakes up, checks everything out, cuddles Charlie close and then settles right back down again.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray that Noah's pain can be controlled and a good night sleep can be had by all.