Friday, September 30th:
Calen is up and down. He spiked a fever last night and was very uncomfortable but once fever broke he was great through the night.
This morning has been rough. He woke up very happy and lovey but then started a low grade fever again and was very uncomfortable. He has broke his fever but continues to be on the miserable side and in and out of sleep. We assume he probably still had some anesthesia in his system yesterday helping him have such an amazing day where as now it is worn off and his body is trying to catch up. The pain team is wanting to turn off the epidural around 1 to see how he does but that will depend on pain management between now and then. Our nurse is AWESOME and isn’t in a hurry and already fighting for him so I am good with however she proceeds. They won’t pull the epidural for 3-4 hours after it is turned off and pain is managed. If he shows increased pain, they will turn it back on and we will wait a bit.
Will keep you all posted.

Later on Friday, September 30th 

Calen is having a very rough afternoon. They turned off his epidural pump in hopes of being done and that we can begin to manage the pain orally and it has been a very difficult transition. He is on Oxi and Valium and had to be given Morphine as his rescue med so he could rest in which he did pass out and get some sleep. Unfortunately he woke up with 103 fever and miserable. There is no concern of infection right now, and they feel it is what commonly happens after such a long surgery and him not being able to really cough and get deep breaths in yet. His lungs sound clear so no concern of pneumonia at this point.
So right now we are trying to get his fever down and pain managed. If he is still miserable within the next 20 minutes, he will get another round of morphine. If that helps his pain again this round, they will remove the epidural and catheter to reduce risks of secondary infections.
Much love to you all!

Saturday, October 1st
Happy Weekend! Sending out an update.

Josh stayed last night and allowed Sarah and I to get a solid night’s sleep. What a guy!
GREAT news!!! Calen did well through the night. Has not needed the morphine since the round after they pulled the epidural so that is awesome we are managing his pain with the meds he would come home with.
He did run a slight fever last night but broke pretty fast. They are currently having to use a cathedral to drain his bladder as that hasn’t quite started working yet after having the foley so hopefully he will start peeing on his own soon as that will help him get out of here.
PT will be coming by sometime today to help teach us how to use the hoist to transfer him in and out of bed, wheelchair and beside commode. If he is able to manage his pain with no need of morphine and we get him peeing, we should be able to go home today.
Cross your fingers and toes, say some prays, dance a jig. And thank you for all of your support!

Sunday, October 2nd

Yesterday was a good day and then not so good. Didn’t make any progress getting out of here which was frustrating but it turns out it was a good thing as he isn’t quite ready.
PT came in yet didn’t even know how to use the lift we were suppose to practice for moving Calen.
We moved him a tad which he didn’t end up tolerating very well and ended up needing the rescue morphine.
He slept through the night for the most part. They tested hemoglobin and it is going back up so needing a another blood transfusion is pretty much not an issue any more. Was 6.5 after transfusion, went down to 6.2 and is now 6.8. 
This morning has been rough, in pain and spiked another fever, which they still think is related to lungs from surgery and not being able to really get good deep breaths. Given he isn’t able to do the breathing exercises most people would do, it will take him a lil longer.
Will let y’all know after PT comes in today and see if we can control pain.

Later on Sunday, October 2nd

Well, not a good day unfortunately. He has struggled all day and his rallies exhaust him. We had to use rescue morphine again so we are reevaluating his medicine protocol. Not happy with it as it is creating too long of periods of discomfort.
So another night and we see how the night and the morning goes.

Monday, October 3rd

Good morning everyone!
Today we are off to a good start and I will be cocky enough to say the best one yet.
Yesterday, once he got he morphine he was pretty much out the rest of the day and through the night so he definitely got a lot of sleep! He did run another fever but it broke pretty quickly.
They took him off IV this morning hoping that will make him thirsty to drink and eat on his own. He was super excited to drink his lifestyle mix this am and had his ThriveK (yay!!) and now he is pretty wild and being his loudest self since surgery. (Double yay!!) 👌🏼 he is still just eating fruit as the cafeteria sucks balls for allergy free options (guess I need to get that changed) so Daddio will bring him some food when he comes up.
So plan is…
As long as he doesn’t run a fever today we get to blow this Popsicle stand.

Later on Monday, October 3rd

Well…i guess what goes up must come down.
Calen did not handle the transfer well and was in a lot of pain. I chose to see how he would do without the rescue morphine. It took him a bit to get comfortable, just in time to spike a fever.
We are waiting on the attending doc to come examine Calen and see if they find any other cause of the fevers….but we do know we are staying another night.

Thank you for your continued support, love and prayers for Calen.