Finally Friday

Watching this chest tube drain can drive you insane.  And yes, we have been watching it! It really doesn't matter how good he looks and acts, or how much our other 3 kids and life is waiting for us back in Oregon, or that school starts soon and the kids are not ready, or that the beans in our garden are ready to pick, or the work I have piling up at the office, we can't leave until the tube is out!  This has been a good exercise in the need for patience.  Sometimes I have to just step back, take a deep breath, and be patient.

Having said all this, Stacy and I really have been watching the tube...and... Lo and behold... he made it. At 4:00 pm, the chest tube put out only 60 ml over the last 24 hours, which is the minimum it needed to be.  That means it can come OUT!   We asked the nurse about it, and she confirmed it.  At first they said they will wait until morning to pull the tube just to be sure, but they could feel a little (okay maybe a lot) of resistance from Gage's parents.

So now, after some Adivan, and and a good nurse practitioner, Gage has been freed from his leash. The chest tube is out, 1 week after the surgery.  He was pretty scared as they pulled the 14 inch chest tube out and sewed up his new belly button.  

Before discharging from the hospital, they will do an x-ray tonight and an echo / x-ray in the morning to look for air pockets and fluid.  So, pending something major, he should be out of here tomorrow morning.

Now it is back to Sierra.  She still has a biopsy on Monday morning, after that we are heading for Donner Pass and home sweet home.

 Getting ready to pull it out

That is it

He is still feeling a bit dizzy from the Adivan

It's out of here!!

A celebration selfie