Update from Rounds

The doctors just did their rounds, and let me tell you, it's a little bit mystifying why 6 people file into the room, one takes James's blood pressure, listens to his heart, and tells us he's fine. Then he answers any questions we have, and they all file out. I'm sure there's a purpose for those other members of the entourage, but I can't help but wonder how much they're charging for that little parade.

James ate about an ounce of milk. He had seemed a lot hungrier than that, but I guess he's still sleepy from the morphine and the general healing process.

Speaking of morphine, the doctors will start stepping it down today, and by the end of the day he'll be on Tylenol with codeine. The morphine makes him sleepy and slows his breathing, so it will be good to have it off. But yikes, it kind of makes me shudder. I hope he won't feel any pain. I know the doctors and nurses are doing their best to prevent it.

James has a bit of a fever, which is normal after surgery. Right now the nurse is about to take out his catheter, his arterial line (which was monitoring his blood pressure and allowing a port for meds), and his rectal probe thermometer (James will appreciate that, I'm sure!). He no longer has the oxygen line under his nose. They're expecting to pull the chest tube out tomorrow (which pulled extra fluid out from the body cavity), as well as his lead lines for the external pace maker (those were a precaution which were never needed, praise the Lord!). He's slowly losing all these things attached to him, which is great!