6-11-07 Monday
Today was a day of visitors. The rest of Miles' therapists (ALL of them!) trooped over from the PRC for lunch today as well as his speech therapist who came in on her day off. After a shot of morphine, Miles was even the gracious host and full of smiles for everyone. He managed to stay awake for about an hour, then back to sleep. He was awake and happy several more times during the day. It is very nice to see the return of Miles' personality and he is even talking a little.
Since his epidural was removed, the IV morphine has been increased in dose and frequency to compensate. He is also taking Tylenol-3, so that could be why he's smiling so much... His catheter was also removed (yay!) and now has been outfitted with a diaper. He's sporting his new *red* outer cast and we have all the necessary equipment to go home. While he was having his cast adjusted to its final fit, Miles decided that he does not like the cast cutting saw. He will have one final confrontation with his new arch nemesis, but that will be in about four weeks. Stay tuned for "Saw II."
Speaking of going home, the plan is to have him released tomorrow or Wednesday. If he can go without IV morphine, home we go. We have made arrangements for a hospital bed and a lift for home use (in and out of bed), all we have to do is make the call and they will be delivered. We have the recline wheelchair (it's in the bathroom here at the hospital—there just isn't space for it anywhere else!). Unfortunately, Miles didn't get his outer cast in time to take a trip around the floor in his new wheels. This is something to work on for tomorrow. We also have his harness for car travel. Harness is really the correct word for this and getting him into it the first time should prove interesting.
Miles is also tolerating food pretty well and is almost back up to his pre-surgery volume. It is a little harder since we can't sit him up. We are confident that this won't keep him here. We are waiting for some action on the bowel front. Nothing yet but this should prove to be an interesting experience.
Annie
Eyes are open... barely. 
The new red cast.
This is how the diaper works, for all of you that have been curious. We also have a strap to hold it in place. The strap is similar to the old school sanitary pad belts of old, but we don't think Miles will mind.
6-10-07 Sunday
Miles spent most of today sleeping. We saw his eyes for almost a minute, but then, back to sleep he went. He is slowly being weaned off of his pain medication—his epidural meds are being decreased and he went five hours between morphine doses. He also started taking some food by tube. One of the good points of having a feeding tube, Miles can "eat" as he sleeps. His GI tract is working just fine, he's been a little noisy...
Tomorrow will be a big day. He will finally get his catheter out. He will also get his epidural removed. I remember what that was like. The staff here at Children's don't know as much about epidurals as they do over at Women's. I wonder why that is. :^) He will get his final cast and we have to choose a color, although tie die is out. Big bonus, he will be getting out of bed. They are setting us up with a recline wheelchair, and we may even be able to roll him outside for a bit. Just imagine the tan lines!
So, while today was a slow day, we are making some progress toward recovery. I'll be on my own tomorrow as Wil heads back to the office, thus I have first choice on sleeping at home in my own bed. We are expecting a visit from Miles' speech therapist some time tomorrow, so I hope that both he and I are alert and ready for visitors. Miles has already slept through visits from Paula's mom, his godparents and Zoe, and his physical therapist.
Annie
What we saw most of today...
Peyton Manning and his wife generously donated funds for four rooms at Children's. Unfortunately we didn't get one of those Colts themed rooms! I'm sitting on the famous couch that pulls out into an semi-comfortable bed. (Think camp!)
6-9-07 Saturday
According to Wil, Miles was restless last night, but slept on and off until about 4 am. Miles was awake when I arrived at 6:30 am Sunday, but not very happy about it.
The day was again all about pain management for Miles. We have found that the morphine every 4 hours (he's allowed to have it every 2) along with valium and his epidural has worked well for him. We'll see if we can't have larger gaps between the morphine tomorrow. He had a slight fever today, but that has gone down. He's also had some swelling, a little in his right foot and then quite a bit in his "nether regions." We have been assured that this will go down, but maybe not until Monday.
He spent most of the day sleeping comfortably—this is good. The awake time was not as pleasant an experience since that was when he seemed to be in the most pain. He did seem better as the day went on.
No other news to report. Hanging out in a hospital room is not very much fun for any of us, but the staff at the hospital has been superb. Our anticipated timeline is that his epidural will come out Monday and he will get his final cast on Monday as well. We should be able to go home either Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how he does with the pain management, swelling, fever, etc. Things are looking pretty good. Tomorrow should be much of the same as today, perhaps with some more wakeful time and Miles continuing the path of returning to his same old self.
Updates to follow.
Annie
The full (temporary) cast.
Some friends from home.
Looking a bit groggy.
See, we told you he was smiling more!
Getting ready to leave the room...
Vroom indeed!
Back at the end of the ride.
