Hospital Stay: Day 4 - Saturday

Our most important news is that J came to visit! J has had to work, so he dropped us off on Wednesday and drove home. Today he came to visit for the afternoon (he's still recovering from a cold, so he is going home tonight as well). We all agree that we are much, much happier together as a unit. We had a "sit down" dinner around Toe's hospital bed and caught each other up and laughed.

After dinner, we took a superball to the sky bridge and played. The hospital is practically empty on weekend evenings. It feels like we own the place. On weekdays, this bridge is so crowded, you could never get away with this. I had a moment, as Toe crawled on the floor to get the ball, where I thought of all of the germs around... He changed his clothes and washed his hands the minute we got back to the room and he will shower tonight before bed! I think it was worth it, though. He got some great exercise and he and his dad had a great time.

How does one shower with a PICC line? The nurses wrap a washcloth around the site, then put a plastic sleeve over it and cover the whole thing with wrapping tape. It's a beautiful thing. Because the PICC line goes directly to his heart, they have to be incredibly careful about getting germs on the line. Every time they use it, they sterilize the outside and then flush the line before administering IV fluids. Showering and washing with special sterilizing soap has been added to our night time routine.

Random tidbits:
There are a large number of CF patients in the ward right now. All of the room doors in the ward are closed and there are signs for contact precautions similar to ours or even more strict. We keep having RNs telling us that "this is the season." They seem incredibly busy!

Toe also spent a lot of time on FaceTime today with his cousin. I think they both have been missing  each other. At home, they speak almost every day.

Tonight was the first night Toe didn't order steelhead for dinner (if you're wondering, he tried the steak).