Bye Bye PICU!!! 6/2/13

We can hold him, take him outside and snuggle with Carter as much as we want to now!  Why? Because... Carter was discharged from the PICU to The Children’s Home on Saturday!!  They weaned him off all of his IV pain and sedation medications, and they turned them completely off Friday morning.  He had to stay in the PICU for 24 hours after the medications were turned off to make sure he could remain stable.  He did great.  He was, and is still, on A TON of oral pain and sedation medications.  The pain team did not really want to discharge him, but thankfully our Urologist and PICU team wanted him to leave the hospital before he caught something else.  Being discharged from the PICU is a very rare thing, but thankfully they came together and allowed us to leave the hospital. The fact that I am a nurse really was the determining factor.  I am thankful everyday that God led me to the career he did.  Once we made sure that the pharmacy could fill, all 13 of them, Carter’s medications we rolled out the door. 

First, we took Carter to the hospital courtyard.  It was his first time outside since March 27th.  He was so excited!  He immediately started laughing, clapping and smiling, and he has not stopped since.  He has done so well with everything since leaving the hospital.  I was given a wean schedule for all of his oral medications. It will take a month or two to completely get him off of all of the medications, but I plan to start weaning them again tomorrow. We are praying that he will tolerate the wean well.  We really think being out of the hospital and that being able to distract him will help.  He has appointments tomorrow and Tuesday to check his bladder and kidneys.  Please pray they go well.  Please continue to pray for Carter.  He has made HUGE improvements, but still has a long way to go.  Please pray for Brandon and I as we learn to manage Carter's new care.  I will end this post with a lot of pictures!  You can easily see God’s love in Carter’s smile.  As always to Him be the Glory!!! 

On our way out of the PICU.  He was a little nervous about what was going on.

 Is that sunshine?

 It is!!! Yay!

 This is the life!

 Daddee LOOK i'm holding myself up all by myself!!!

 LOOK Mommy FISH!!!

 Are you sure you can hold me???

 We learned really quick just how sensitive Carter's medications make him to the sun.

 So happy!

Just talking on the phone! Thank you all SO much for praying for me!!!