Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nolan had an amazing day. We had one really small throw up the entire day and he was pretty much a happy boy all day! This morning around 10 am our home nurse came by to change his PICC line dressing and flush the line. WELL, I must have done something with all the supplies because I couldn't find the dressing kit ANYWHERE, so she just flushed it and we will get his dressing changed tomorrow.

Later on one of my good friends and her husband, Allison and Mike Smith, stopped by to meet Nolan and hang out for a bit. While they were here Nolan gave us a little test. He pulled out his NG tube. I felt bad because Mike and Allie were here - and Nolan does NOT like getting the NG placed. So, Matt did a great job getting it back in and I taped the bad boy back to his face. It was placed fine and we were on our way! I think that was one of my fears being outpatient, but we conquered it! (Well, Matt did most of the work, but I am always there for the support...or so I think I am.)

After Mike and Allison left we had to head over to the hospital for his occupational and physical therapy appointments. We have a very animated and fun occupational therapist, Kim, that does such a great job at engaging Nolan during occupational therapy. Today we worked on spoon feeds. She had carrots for him; admittedly, I was a little ify about the carrots. She had a textured spoon, which Nolan seems to like. (PS: Nolan's two front teeth are coming in...you can see them breaking through. Poor guy - we had to give him some Tylenol today because he it was obvious he was in some pain.) So, when Kim introduced the carrots to him, he went crazy! He actually grabbed the spoon and was putting it in his mouth, while

swallowing the carrots! He didn't eat a lot, but probably about 15 ml. It was so encouraging! Also, earlier in the day I worked on giving him a bottle, and he also seemed to enjoy it! There's nothing more that I would love than to get rid of the NG tube! We also gave him a Mum-um to chew on, which he seemed to take some interest to. All around, this was such a great appointment to experience.

Next was physical therapy. Elizabeth is our PT and has been working with Nolan during his inpatient stay, also. He is doing so well rolling from his belly to his back, and visa versa. He is lifted his head up while on his belly past the 90 degree angle and is doing well using both of his hands to pick up items and bring to his mouth. Our homework is to work on his sitting and strengthening his right side, which is probably weakened due to his stroke(s). All in all, Elizabeth was very happy with his progress in the short amount of time, and Matt and I plan to work hard with Nolan this week. Our next appointment's with OT and PT is Thursday.

We have an early morning tomorrow. We have to be at Same Day Surgery at 6:30 am to check in for Nolan's 3rd biopsy. Once we get the results we should probably have a timeline as to how much longer we need to stay here in Pittsburgh. We pray for positive results so we can continue on to our next chapter - BRINGING NOLAN HOME!

#nhos