Quiet afternoon

It's been a quiet afternoon since Magnus came back from surgery. He was already awake when we came in to see him, although he did get a dose of morphine soon after, and then took a nap. He seems stronger every day. Right now he's got some low oxygen saturations for unknown reasons, but other than that, things have been quiet.

They took out one of his lines when he was down in the OR, and I'm hopeful they'll be able to take out at least one more tomorrow. They also put in one more chest tube down there (he now has a total of four). I'm hoping that maybe some of those can go soon, too. Chest tubes are notoriously very painful, although he has not complained about them.

After the anesthesia team dropped him back off in the ICU, our nurse said to us "I think [anesthesia doc] really liked him. She gave him some water because she was worried about how dry his mouth was. She doesn't do that for everybody." Indeed, when she had met with us outside, she commented on how special Magnus was, and described him as having a "Zen-like quality." People keep trying to give us credit for his mental toughness, but really he deserves all the credit.

At this point, Magnus is on very few medications: a diuretic (the same one he has taken at home all his life, although IV rather than oral), tylenol, an occasional dose of morphine, and a blood thinner. To put that in perspective, when he came out of his first surgery, he had 10 IV pumps at his bedside, plus several drips!

Here's a photo of him this afternoon looking not so happy, but very much like his ordinary self. I think he is definitely ready for some visitors, though probably only adults at this point, as he is still bedridden.