One in a million!

Last night started out a little rough as Casen was constantly asking for the same three things over and over again until he finally fell asleep: water, mac and cheese, and to go home! Fortunately, he slept really well last night and his fever stayed away.  He woke up much more alert and talkative this morning. Good news came when we were given the go ahead to introduce clear liquids into his diet. He downed a couple cups of water and apple juice immediately, and then we waited...it stayed down, yay! Hopefully this means that he will be able to progess to some solid foods tomorrow.

Ever since Casen's bowel surgery he has understandably had a scowl on his face, but today the "toy cart" came around and I was able to pick out a toy for him to keep.  I wish that I had been able to capture the look on his face when I showed him the football that I picked for him. He was all smiles and immediately perked up and was ready to "go out" so that he could throw his ball around. I decided it was time for him to get out of that bed so we found a wheelchair, gathered up all of his tubes, and went for a nice ride around the hospital halls with him on my lap.  We gave John a pretty good arm workout since he had to push the chair with one hand and the tubes contraption with the other hand. He was ready to take us back after one lap, but when we got back to the room Casen begged for more and got daddy to cave in for a couple more rounds.  He wasn't happy about coming back, but when his nurse offered him a popsicle he completely forgot about going for another ride.

Casen's second smile of the day came when a package arrived in our room from our good friends from dental school.  I pulled out a transportation puzzle from the box and he got the biggest grin and wanted to work on the puzzle right away. Not only did they send Casen a couple fun activities, but they also sent me a book that I've been wanting to read.  It will definitely help pass the time over this next week in the hospital. It was also nice to get a visit today from my cousin's wife and their 5 year old son. It was so refreshing to talk to someone other than a doctor or nurse. She was in the same hospital with her son at the end of last year so in addition to bringing a cute toy for Casen, she was also thoughtful and brought John and me a bag of snacks as well as a giftcard to a fast food joint close to the hospital. Her son also colored Casen a sweet picture that is now hanging up in his room.We have had so many people doing such thoughtful things for our family. His name has been put on several different temple's prayer rolls, he has had countless prayers being offered up on his behalf, we've had so many friends offering to help with Bentley, and we have even had some of our dear loved ones ask if they could be tested to see if they would be a good match to donate a kidney to Casen. Fortunately, that's not something we're worrying about right now, but I have been so overwhelmed by the love that's being shown towards our family during these past few days.

We were all pretty upbeat and positive this morning, but this afternoon was a different story.  The doctors had talked to us previously about needing to switch out his IV for a PICC line at some point, but our discussions led me to believe that it was a pretty simple process that was just done at his bedside. Wrong.  I guess they decided that today was the day the PICC line needed to go in so they came in to tell us that Casen needed to stop drinking again since the procedure requires sedation. What?? Apparently, our understanding of what a PICC line is and how it's placed was completely lacking.  As the doctor explained everything to us, I looked down at Casen and noticed that he had suddenly turned very serious and his cute little lips were starting to quiver.  I'm sure that once he saw a doctor and several other people come into his room to talk to us he could sense that something else was about to happen to him. He suddenly got very concerned about making sure that John and I were by his side at all times.

Later this afternoon, I found myself in the pre-op wing of the hospital for a 3rd time in one week.  By this point, almost every new doctor/nurse that we meet has already heard about Casen. About 30 minutes prior to the procedure, Casen was getting pretty anxious and was begging to go home. Our anesthesiologist today was great and gave him some happy juice while we waited to go back.  We then witnessed Casen's third and final smile of the day. In no time, Casen was happily talking about play-doh, monkeys, and the sky :)  We were super nervous as we waited, because they told us it would only take an hour and it took them a lot longer than that to come and get us. We had been told that if they couldn't place the PICC line they would have to place a more permanent port in his chest that would require another surgery to remove once it wasn't needed anymore.  Since it took them so long to come and get us we were sure that's what had happened, but were very happy to discover that they had successfully placed his PICC line. 

When the nurse came in to talk to us after it was over, she was covered in sweat and exclaimed "your son sure is one in a million!" It seemed very fitting of Casen considering what has happened over the past few days. She told us that Casen made her work for her money today and that it took 3 attempts before she was able to get it in.  We are so happy that she was persistent so that we didn't have to go with the alternative.  Having the PICC line is good for a lot of different reasons in Casen's situation. One benefit is that they can draw blood directly from the line so that he isn't constantly getting pricked each time they need blood. It will also enable him to receive nutrition through the line if we get to that point. More importantly though, it now gives us the option of going home a little earlier and administering the rest of his antibiotics at home through the PICC line. Now that it has been placed, I think that Casen is finally on the mend, and hopefully tomorrow will bring him more healing and something to eat!