Glad to be home! But why does it take so long to get discharged from the hospital? When the docs did their rounds, they told us we could leave if Josh did well with breakfast (no throwing up). That was 7:30 a.m. We didn't get out of there until nearly 1 p.m. And supposedly all we were waiting for was someone in pharmacy to talk to us about the meds (he didn't tell us anything we didn't know) and give us our discharge orders (which took about 5 minutes).

At least we only had a 20 minute drive home, but it would have been much nicer to get out of there around 9 a.m. That seems reasonable to me.

Today Josh is doing really well. He has some pain, but we're managing that with Motrin--and occasionally tylenol w/codeine. He is much happier at home.

Like they say, amazing the difference a day makes. Or in this case, 7 hours. JJ is feeling lots better. Now he won't stop eating! He's awake very early and interested in playing computer games. Since he's managed to eat up all the food I stashed in the room overnight, I'm off in search of more.

Poor JJ! He's having a tough time with nauseousness following his surgery. Hoping to get some food in him before the night's over. At this rate we won't be going home bright and early in the a.m. :(. Keep fingers crossed that tummy issues clear up soon!

Just hanging out here

Still hanging out at the hospital. JJ is a bit nauseated and not able to eat yet. I hope this passes soon. Despite the nausea, he's doing well. Doc says the surgery was textbook, and it seems like the only problems are those caused by the anesthesia, so no big deal there. Time will remedy all this.

I'm so proud of JJ, he was so brave today and continues to be! He's a trooper!

today's tummy tuck day!

Today's the day that JJ gets his feeding tube opening closed. Luckily it's a fairly quick surgery--should take only about an hour. But they'll still have to put him under general anesthesia and intubate him for a respirator. So we're nervous.

But we're also so glad we got to this point. When he got his feeding tube at 8 weeks old, we had no idea when and if we'd ever be able to get it out. The tube came out last summer, but the hole didn't completely heal up on its own. Today—more than seven years later—closes the chapter on that part of his hypoplastic left heart story! Yeah!