All tubes are out, home Friday(?)

The second chest tube came out at around noon. Riley is really a squirmy worm now - he's flipping around in bed and just about climbing out. We went for a walk in the wagon for the first time without chest tubes. He walked (with help) from the wagon into the playroom. He also wanted to drink from a water fountain so he walked over to it and Dad picked him up. He's still very wobbly while walking, and he fell down a few times, even with assistance. He has the strength in his legs to stay upright but no balance.

Physical therapy came by and played with him at the bedside for more than half an hour. She was encouraged that Riley is able to stand upright while holding onto the bed and cruise back and forth. We'll encourage that type of play when we're home. PT thinks Riley may be walking on his own in as little as two weeks.

And speaking of home, it looks like Friday is the day. There was a chance we'd go home tomorrow, but the cardiologists want to give it another day. He'll have a chest x-ray tomorrow, then first thing on Friday. If everything looks good, we can get out of here. We'll really need to crack the whip because if we miss Friday we're into the weekend, and it's notoriously hard to get out on the weekend. One issue: we'll need Riley's prescriptions transferred to the Kaiser Permanente pharmacy, and that can be difficult. We expect to lean on Riley's own Kaiser cardiologist for help.

At home, it looks like he'll be on a major cocktail - amoxicillin, aldactone, digoxin, lasix, diuril, aspirin and lisinopril (hopefully I didn't forget anything). Riley's cardiologist will try to slowly reduce the diuretics over the weeks and months ahead (aldactone, lasix and diuril). We'll have follow-up x-rays and echos to make sure the fluid hasn't returned. We'll probably see the cardiologist within a week after discharge. Riley's cardiologist doesn't think he'll need the regular blood tests (to look at electrolytes) which is nice. He's also going to modify Riley's drugs so that he only gets them twice a day instead of three times. That's a huge help because Riley is used to morning and evening meds. The doctors have also transitioned Riley to chewable (or pill-formed that Riley chews) for lasix and amoxicillin that we previously gave to Riley in liquid form via syringe.

Friday will be Day 38 in the hospital and we can't wait to be home. The weather report shows sunny and 78 degrees this weekend!