iSam

A post from Kristin!

Jason and I received a text from our great friend Jeff today that read, "Can we get a picture and update on Sam. Please." Note that the grammar makes this more of a command than a question, so we shall happily and apologetically comply. :)

The little guy has endured a tough post-surgery week! The good news: He appears to be stable, and if the missing vegetation is still lurking inside his little body, it's hiding itself quite well. One of the nurse practitioners who works closely with Dr. Jaggers, our surgeon, joked to him, "Guess what? I found Sam's vegetation right here in my pocket!" Also, Dr. Jaggers, a serious man of few words, apparently made up the word "vegectomy" to describe what he did to Sam's heart (according to the nurses, he even giggled a little at his own joke).

The not-so-great news: Sam is not a happy camper here at Camp Cardiac. He is, in fact, wearing his grumpy pants, and understandably so. Apparently, the Glenn surgery reroutes his circulatory system in a way that leaves him with a painful high pressure headache for a couple of weeks. Just as he did after his Norwood, Sam cries out in pain every time he sneezes or coughs because it irritates his healing sternum and his fresh chest incision. Also, he's constipated. It probably doesn't help that Sam is officially off the pain killers. Lastly, because Sam is far younger than most Glenn patients, he needs oxygen to keep his sats stable, and he spends most of his time trying to use his socked and swaddled little hands to pry the nasal canula off his face. It's on high flow right now, which apparently is the equivalent of sticking your head outside the car window at 70 miles per hour. No fun for our little Sam right now.

While we don't expect to see many smiles from Sam in the near distant future, we have found one thing that offers him consolation: My iPod. He loves it. Here's how we soothe him when he's at his crankiest: I play a song while I hold the brightly lit screen in front of him. While I sing along, I pat his tush to the beat of the song. He gazes into the screen until his puffy eyelids start to droop, and his mouth falls open a little as breathes himself into a deep sleep. His favorite song? It's "I Want It That Way," by the Backstreet Boys. I'm not sure if its the soft tune, the intellectually complex lyrics, or the screen image of the Backstreet Boys in their white leisure suits, but it's his favorite by a landslide (click here to enjoy the song and video--go ahead, treat yourself).

Here's one more picture of Sam enjoying his new hobby. And hopefully, we'll have some new smiling pictures to show you soon.