Boston Day 11 ... A good one!

Nate did SO well with his drain raised higher, that I felt very good about the team clamping the drain early this morning. All day long Nate's ICP was at a very normal level, whether he was sitting straight up or laying flat. Know what that means? The ETV is working! And his spinal fluid has regulated.

One of the tests of whether he no longer needed the drain was to get him up and moving a little. I was hesitant about this after the bad experience we had at Vanderbilt with getting him up too early. But this is not too early, and he was ready. First we got him out of bed and sitting up in a chair, where he sat for over an hour and ate lunch. A little later, the PT helped him walk about 30 little shuffling steps to the door and then back to bed.

I think his back looks fantastic. It's "flat as a flitter" (as Dr. Warf said), and the scar is healing great already.

Nate and Granna played board games and puzzles for awhile, and Nate was having an awesome time. He was laughing so hard that he had the people rooming with us (behind the curtain) laughing as well as the doctors and nurses.

See the nice bald spot right up top? That will hopefully fill in, in no time.

In the middle of the laughing, they came to remove his drain. We decided to take him to the procedure room (aka scream room) so he wouldn't disturb the little girl on the other side of the curtain. (A new roommate as of this afternoon. She has Spina Bifida too, and bless her heart she has had a hard time lately. It makes us look at this debacle with Nate and be thankful he doesn't have more problems.) Anyway, they asked me if I was coming to the procedure room, and I said yes. They said I didn't have to, and I said I was coming. They said are you sure? Absolutely. Try to keep me out of that room!

So, once in the procedure room, they let him just sit in his wheelchair, but he started freaking out a little when they held his head. I tried to keep him occupied with Talking Carl on my phone, and he couldn't figure out whether to laugh or cry. Talking Carl was imitating every time he yelped, and every time the doctor said something ... it really was pretty funny. Then they pulled the drain out, and I was pretty horrified at the spinal fluid just gushing out of his head. I mean, it was enough to soak his shirt. Wow. Then I saw the doctor bring out what looked like a fish hook, and he put in 3 stitches. Poor Nate. And no, they didn't numb it, because the numbing needle would have been two painful sticks anyway, so what's the point. But, ow.

He wheeled himself back to the room and I changed his shirt and got him all dried off from the CSF downpour, and for his treat--since he no longer has a drain or an IV tethering him to his bed--we took him downstairs to watch the "ball thing." (If you really want to know, there are pictures on the post from our first and second days here.) He had a blast, and I was a nervous wreck.

So, Nate has some leads on him tonight just to make sure his heart rate and oxygen level stay okay after getting the drain out, but essentially he is "wireless" now. His back looks great, his head looks great, and I really anticipate he will be discharged tomorrow. Yay! We are almost done with this phase! I know we still have a long way to go--waiting and resting next week, traveling back home, starting PT again to regain his strength, and then getting back into school in January. But THE WORST IS OVER! I am sure of it.