Rowan is 6 Months Old Today

It is Recovery Day 3
Overnight they were able to wean Rowan’s ventilator down a little bit and his numbers have sort of normalized.  There is a number called a CVP that we have been watching closely.  As that number starts to drop, it is a sign that Rowan is adjusting to his new circulation.  It has been dropping slowly from the thirties yesterday to low twenties today which is a good sign.  We need it to continue to drop.
We also can no longer see a clear color difference between the top part of Rowan’s body and the lower part of it.  Rowan’s upper half of his body circulates differently.
From about nipples up, all of the blood that formerly returned to the heart now goes directly to the lungs.  He has puffed up a little bit and is a little blue above that line.  This is a normal thing that kids adjusting to this surgery experience.  His body has to adjust to draining the used blood directly to the lungs and you can get some build up while that happens.  We need him to start adjusting and de-puffying.
His chest tube is putting out very little fluid now.  We have asked that they feed him even just a small amount before they remove it to make sure that feeding him isn’t going to cause a substantial fluid build up.
They are lowering his paralytic to allow him to move a tiny bit and wake up some so they can continue to very slowly allow him to breath on his own.
Baby steps.  Rowan isn’t going to recover from this like he is just recovering from the Glenn, because he isn’t.  He is recovering from the Glenn AND having trouble getting blood flow through his heart.  With that ASD opened up now, he has a lot of adjusting to do, and we will give him the time to do it. 
Afterall, I don’t want Rowan home next week, I want him home when he is well and ready to come home.