Can you believe it?!!!

Our Graci Kate is out of the ICU!!!! It is so amazing how well everything has gone--we really never imagined it would go this smoothly! Graci is now in her own room in the Children's Surgical Unit. She's been watching movies and even making little crafts. This morning they did the cutest thing. All the kids in the hospital that were able to play BINGO from their own rooms. They had passed the most darling BINGO cards around, then had everyone turn on their TVs. They broadcasted a man reading the BINGO cards from the playroom in the hospital. When you got a "BINGO", you would call him on your phone and he would announce it on the air. So cute. Then they came to the rooms and passed out prizes (stuffed animals) to everyone that played. This is such a wonderful hospital. They've also brought all kinds of crafty things around for her to do-- fun, fun.

Tonight Graci wanted to get out of bed and go on a little walk-- YAY! She did great for a little while, then needed a wheelchair. She was so happy to get out of bed, but it really exhausted her. I took her to the bathroom afterward and she was falling asleep on the toilet. (: She's now sound asleep-- I'm thinking for the night.

The one bad thing about the day is that Graci's been coughing. It REALLY hurts her to cough, and she sounds awful. This is pretty normal after a surgery like this-- it happened last time-- but there is a concern that she'll develop pneumonia. So, the nurses are constantly trying to get her to cough it out-- which she hates-- and so she's been in a bit of a foul mood because of that. We have heard that coughing after heart surgery feels like a semi-truck rolling over your chest-- fun.

We've always joked that Graci wouldn't make a good vegetarian. I asked her what she wanted me to order her for dinner tonight and she said bacon, jerky, and chicken nuggets. Hmmm.... This is after requesting bacon for breakfast and lunch. I told her she could pick two meats and then she had to pick something healthy that wasn't meat. She asked if hash browns were meat. (: We settled on the hashbrowns (though I wouldn't put them in the healthy category), bacon, jerky, and lots of yummy fruit. Luckily, she's saving the jerky for tomorrow.

I am REALLY REALLY missing my other sweet kids!!!! Jeremy has been going back and forth-- he's still somewhat under the weather and doesn't want to be here too much. But tomorrow, the plan is to bring them all up here to the hospital to visit Graci and I'm soooooooooo excited! (:(:(: It's crazy how much you can miss your kids in three days. It's also crazy how sometimes after three minutes you can wish you had some alone time again. (:

It has been really fun when Jeremy is here with me-- we get to go down to the cafteria and eat together-- just the two of us-- and also have time to visit and hang out. So as much as it is stressful here, it's also had some very peaceful times too.

Well, I'm going to try to get some sleep. The nurse will be in and out of our room throughout the night to check stats and give meds, then Graci has an x-ray at 6 a.m.
Not exactly a perfect night's sleep, but possibly better than what I'd get at home!

--Christianne

Such Great Progress!!!

Wow! Graci has all of her tubes out! This is very significant progress, even quicker than last surgery. The only things she's attached to right now are one IV line and the oxygen into her nose. Christi and I were at breakfast when they took her tubes out, so we missed the fireworks, but I caught the tail-end of her crying when I came back. She was pretty animated. She's doing prety well right now. She's fairly drugged up, both morphine and lortab, so she's mellow and sleepy. The narcotics are also making her itchy all over. They anticipate that they'll move her out of ICU late this afternoon. Graci's excited to move upstairs because she'll have her own room!