Chest tube is OUT!

Well, Wednesday turned out to be a pretty exciting day. My mom brought me lunch and diapers for Harlie. We have been battling a bad diaper rash the whole time we've been in the hospital. They always blame the meds, etc. I was telling a new nurse that she never gets a diaper rash at home, when it finally dawned on me that hospitals use Pampers and I use Huggies. So, maybe that's the problem. So, my mom brought me some Huggies. Hopefully we'll see an improvement very soon.

Well, I was changing her diaper when I noticed that the chest tube was laying BESIDE her and not IN her! I called the nurse over and they came running. They said that they have never had a chest tube just come out like that before. (ha - I honestly laugh at the word "never" now!) They said it can be very painful when it comes out (under controlled circumstances) and Harlie was just looking at us like "what's all the fuss about?" It was SO funny. Two of her cardiologists came over to see her after that. One of them looked at me suspiciously. I joked that I pulled it out. She said that's what she thought. I told her had I known that Harlie wouldn't explode I would have done it sooner! The docs would have moved at a snail's pace to get to this point.

As long as she doesn't show any respiratory distress and her x-rays look good, we might be able to have her home by the weekend. She had x-rays yesterday and will have more today just to make sure that no air got in her chest cavity. Especially since we have no idea how long it had been out. She's been on room air for over 24 hours and maintaining her sats in the 80's, which is great.

And let me tell you, I am ready to leave this place. My brother, Bruce, came to see Harlie last night. He said the transfer was like getting kicked out of a nice house and having to stay at the bus station. And that is so true. Yesterday I had to hear a little boy hack and cough and spit until he finally threw up. His mom and nurse where cheering him on saying "spit it out, spit it out, Honey". It was lovely. And the other morning I woke up at 5:30 am to a different little boy asking the nurse if he could watch cartoons. Ahhh, I just love the soothing sound of cartoons in the morning.

Seriously, I have a really good feeling about this. Usually I am much more reserved. So, hopefully my feeling is right. Please keep your fingers crossed.
Take care,
Christy