One more day!

Hello all- They decided to wait one more day until removing Owen's breathing tube. They wanted to allow him more time to get a little more fluid off his body and lungs. The trunk of his body has been the most swollen and looks much better today. Tomorrow morning they will remove the breathing tube. They have stopped a lot of Owen's drips today. He is no longer on Epi, dopamine, fentanyl. He has been awake and calm for most of the day. Chelsea and I are able to calm him pretty well with the help of a vibrating egg and his mobile. He really knows who Chelsea and I are. He will just stare at us with his blueberry colored eyes and let's us know it's all okay. Owen still gets morphine to help with his pain control and ativan if he is really mad. His vent settings have been turned down to room air and he tolerates it well in the mid 80's which is good for him. They want him to be about 75-85%. When tomorrow goes as planned that will hopefully start the process removing all other tubes and wires from him over the next week. Labs still looking good for the little guy. Everything else is also looking good for him for him as well.
Chelsea and I were able to go out and have a dinner just the two of us and was nice to get away. The place we went to was a little loud but fine by us. We are use to the sound of a heart monitor that beeps non stop everyday abut 160 times a minute and there is always the other alarms that Owen loves to set off 1 way or another. We are excited for tomorrow to get here and see O with all the stuff off his face. We have been in the cardiac ICU so long that all the nurses know us by name which is good and bad.We are also getting on a first name basis with other parents. Chelsea was able to see one of the other parents getting ready to go home with her little girl today so that is great to see. They chatted quite a bit over the last weeks or so. We know our day is coming so we try not to let being here get us down. We know that so many other kids and families have it so much worse than we do. I have met to many parents and heard their stories and my heart aches for them and their situation but I also admire their strength and determination for they have been doing this much longer than Chelsea and I and their kids are typically more sick than Owen. As we sit here in in room 6 our home away from home I see other patients coming in after surgery all looking the same with the same equipment and same surgical team in tow. I often think about their parents and how they are doing. For most of them the journey is just beginning and will see the same rough road that we saw and are still seeing. Some are veterans because this might be the 2nd or 3rd open heart surgery. Nonetheless the fear and anticipation is in their eyes. I look forward the to getting back the country away from this concrete and asphalt with very little nature. I long for the the heat of the summer and the perfect temperature nights on our deck. I hope that tomorrow is the day and this tube comes out.
-Chris
Question of the day.
As I was riding in a elevator today I saw a painter. Why do painter's wear white? It seems like the worst color for a painter to wear. And our bus drivers name today was Ray if you were wondering.