Yesterday we received some fantastic news as the doctors ordered Hudson to be transitioned from the Cardiac ICU to the Step down unit! The team said he had progressed so well that he was ready for the move, with goal for him to continue to "bulking up". Additionally, since arriving to the Step down unit, the team has been impressed with his advancement on feeding. Each day he has increased his milk intake and is now back to pre-surgery levels on both amount and speed of feeding. We couldn't be more proud of the little man!
Today we received some additional great news that the staff is targeting for a potential discharge date of this upcoming Monday, March 31st! We were completely shocked that it could be achieved this quick but are absolutely ecstatic to have the potential to bring our little man home soon. It has been exactly a week since his open-heart surgery and honestly can't believe how well he has recovered during that span. This little guy continues to amaze and inspire us each day with his accomplishments. We are so anxious to have him be at home, living for the first time with his family under one roof. It couldn't come soon enough!
While we are excited to have Hudson make his debut to the Westside, we are also preparing mentally for what is ahead. The nurses provide us continual coaching and new training to get us ready for providing full-time care to Hudson ourselves. From re-learning CPR to knowing full list of medications to cleansing his incisions, we are getting a crash course into the pre-requisites to be able to take him home. However, we are willing and anxious to learn to be able to realize that opportunity!
The transition to the Step down unit was fast so we both feel that we never really had the opportunity to fully thank the CICU staff, from doctors to nurses to janitorial staff. They made our lives so unbelievably easy to focus on one task - get Hudson healthy. We are forever grateful for the nurture, care, and support they provided to Hudson, us and our entire family. We will never forget them and are hopeful we can stay in touch with many of them...especially with surgeries #2 and 3 ahead!
Special thanks to Grandma Bev for staying the night last night to enable us to see Hudson's uncle Trevor who arrived in town from Denver last night. Hudson enjoyed his time with Grandma just as she enjoyed her time with him!
Ashley's brother Trevor began his visit to Cincinnati yesterday. Hudson is looking forward to meeting and spending time with his uncle whom he has named after (Hudson Trevor Allen)!
Please continue to keep Hudson in your prayers that all continue to goes well so the Monday goal of discharge becomes reality...and his "follicle following" has a chance at shaving those grisly beards soon!