Recovery Day #4: The Details

First of all, Charlotte was released from the hospital on Sunday, her fourth post-surgery day. Many of you gathered as much from the picture, but just as many were confused. So, yes, she's home.

Here's what the day looked like:

The "flock of docks," Dr. Backer, Dr. Young, and Dr. Wu (cardiology fellow) and Susie came by in the late morning to do rounds. Dr. Backer came into the room grinning from ear to ear and cracking jokes, clearly pleased to see Charlotte's progress (and his fabulous handiwork). They took one look at Charlotte and said, "Go home."

Okay, what they really said was, "Are you comfortable taking her home?" YES!! We can deal better with her feeding her properly at home. And, she's ready. In fact, she's asking "Home?" for the first time since the surgery.

So, they ordered a chest x-ray and said if it came back clear we could leave.

Charlotte and Bubba smiled for a chest x-ray. (She smiled a second after I snapped this, but the lighting was bad.)

Then Charlotte ate lunch and took a long nap. Really long. We toured the available real estate in the area after eating brunch.

Then Charlotte took her first wobbly steps

Susie came and gave us the all clear on the x-ray. She also gave us post-op instructions. Much to Philippe's delight, Charlotte is no longer taking Digoxin. She remains on Pepcid and Zyrtec (for her reflux--no reason for the heart doctors to change that). We've added a daily dose of baby aspirin; research shows that aspirin may prolong the life of the valve.

We have to follow sternal precautions meaning we cannot pick her up under her arms (we have to cradle her or make a chair with our arms) and she cannot lift her arms too high. We have to avoid groups of children for at least 2 weeks. And, the hardest part, we have to avoid situations where she could easily fall for at least 6 weeks--so no playground.

Then we packed up and went home. Charlotte took a walk with Mom & Dad. Then she took a little nap.

Then she settled back into the house as if she'd never left. She even slipped right back into her sleep routine.

This is very good. This is very, very good. (okay, some of you even know the tune to this song, right?!)