4D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's right, folks. WE ARE OUT OF CCCU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

asher's doing incredibly well. they took the breathing tubes out yesterday afternoon after the cardiologist in the unit saw him pulling on them during rounds. asher doesn't like things in his nose. so dr schwartz said, "i think he'll be a lot happier without the tubes. take them out."

so, they took them out, and he's doing great!!

his sats are now in the high 70s, and his heartrate is in the 80s, which is lower than usual. but that could just be that his heart's not under so much stress anymore (stress = higher heart rate = higher blood pressure). no one seems really concerned about it, so i'm not worried. he's still a little puffy around the eyes, and his fingers are dusky, but his eyes can open all the way and his hands are warm, so again, no big concerns. he only has the IV in his neck now, and that will come out in a couple days, once he's off the heparin.

like i said, they moved him up out of the unit and onto the ward this morning. he's in step-down now, and he'll likely be moving into his own room in the next couple of days.

as for his mood... well, he's a little grumpy sometimes, and he's uncomfortable, but i think that's mostly due to the broken ribs. he's a bit sleepy, but has trouble settling, again due to the pain, but he fell asleep on his own shortly after the move upstairs. when he's medicated and as pain-free as possible, he's quite playful. this morning, while still in the unit, he was giving me his foot so i'd "smell" it and say "ooh, stinky toes!" and he tried to laugh. once we got upstairs, he was playing with me and the nurses, and he gave his CareBear of big bear hug. we also got an actual smile out of him! YAY ASHER!!!!

it's so wonderful to see him like this. he was so strong going into the surgery, and God is good, so he's doing amazingly well right now. i've never been prouder of him than i am today. :)

now that we're out of the unit, we can have our phones on, so feel free to give us a call if you want to chat. i'll try to post again tomorrow and keep you up to speed. talk to you later! :) h