Max gets home

On the ward round yesterday the Dr was so pleased with Max's progress that he asked if we wanted to take him home on a 'pass'...'yes please'! As we have to be back tomorrow morning at 8am to see Max's consultant they did not officially discharge us so we were out by 10.30am and straight back to the flat. My folks had arrived on Friday night and they were delighted to see him back home on Sunday - I think everyone is in awe at how well he has done, including his mummy & daddy! My folks gave Simon and I a break on Saturday and mum and I went shopping whilst Simon went to the gym - dad stayed at the hospital and played with Max and he was fast asleep when we got back (thats Max and not my dad!).

Max's scar is healing really well, its probably about 4inches and is on the left hand side of his chest. It has paper stiches which will eventually fall off themselves so he won't need to go back to have them taken out. We are due back down again in 6 weeks to see his surgeon and thereafter every 6 months.

To add to his surprise recovery, he even started crawling on Sunday morning.

We are hoping to head back home tomorrow early afternoon, i'm so excited to finally have the last 13 weeks behind us and Max looking such a healthy and happy boy.

xx

Max with some animals at Kelvingrove Museum today - our first trip out together in over 3 months!

Operation over......

Max's operation on Tuesday went even better than we could have hoped for. He was in surgery for 6 hours and instead of going to ITU where he was to be ventilated he went to HDU and was given only oxygen prongs. Simon and I were amazed to see him looking so well given such major surgery. The surgeon came to see us later on and said that his smaller left lung actually looked quite healthy and that his diaphragm also looked really good, so much so that they contemplated not using a patch to close the hernia (although they did land up using a patch). Max struggled a bit as he came round, he was very aggitated and disorientated and not even Simon or I could calm him down. Following his post-op x-ray the team noticed that part of his left lung was collapsed and decided to put him on CPAP, which blows air in through a tube in the nose and helps to re-inflate the lung/s. The CPAP did its job perfectly and although the lung is not yet fully inflated they removed the CPAP today, along with his epidural and stopped his morphine. He had oxygen prongs for a short while but also had these removed tonight. He has a new wound on the left side of his chest which will need regular dressing changes and checks for infection, luckily he doesn't seem to be having any pain there and is already trying to get moving in his cot.

The plan is to be moved to the ward tomorrow and then within a week we could be home - although it all depends on the surgeon and his team.

I honestly never thought it would go so well, its still been very hard, tiring and emotional (well more for me coz I blurb all the time!) but the outcome could not be better and we are so incredibly proud of Max :)

Looking forward to getting home and getting out and about!

xxx

I have attached a picture of Max going to surgery in the 'theatre car'

Max on CPAP

3 days to go.....

Well, we've made it back down to Glasgow and settled into the flat, Max is being bathed by daddy whilst i'm having a glass of wine updating my blog :)

We had a few family and neighbours pop in past yesterday to wish us all good luck which was so nice although I started feeling very anxious as the reality sets in. We wish we didn't have to be here at all but the thought of Max being better and us starting to do things as a family again makes me quite excited. We have really missed going out and about and doing the normal things, its been this way since November so we honestly can't wait to get going again.

Max is due into the hospital on Monday afternoon for his operation first thing on Tuesday morning. I will stay the night before because although he is familiar with hospitals he is so much more aware now and needs one of us with him. The good thing is he has no idea whats about to come and so its just Simon and I that have been dreading the 8th - Max has been his usual happy smiley self and that sometimes makes it harder as outwardly he looks so well.

Tomorrow we plan to have a nice day together and take Max to the park ect although I just want the day to pass so we can get on to the next and get things moving.

I never imagined parenthood would be such a rollercoaster but even at this point its the most rewarding job we could ever do.

Thanks again to everyone for their support and a special thanks to Max's friend Murray (and his mummy Emma) who made Max the cutest 'Get well soon' card complete with cotton wool balls and lots of paint!!!

xx