2nd Followup with Cardiologist Malpass

Our second followup with Malpass today went well. He said John still looks great. He did the echocardiogram himself, because all his regular technicians were at other offices and on vacation... He is definitely the hardest working pediatric cardiologist ever!

There is still no fluid building up, but he still hears the "friction rub" at the apex of the heart. It may be because surgeon Bradley removed some of the pericardium to create the baffle for the blood flow, so he hears rubbing that is normally cushioned by muscle around the heart.
He explained more detail about the repair itself. It's just so hard for us to follow the details and take it in, and this was sort of the first time Tony and I could listen without being in an emotionally charged state... Tony can give you more details if you are interested...
Anyway, we have a followup scheduled for two months from now. We talked about John going back to school. The fears are more about injury from falling or getting bumped rather than infection. I said our timeline was about two more weeks at home, and Malpass said that was fine. The total forecast healing time for the sternum is about six weeks total.

So. We actually have two weeks without any doctor appointments. The next one is with Hearn for me and Twohy.

Tony and I are in discussions about shelf options for Twohy's room, but we ordered some wallpaper border.

Of course, we ordered it at Lowe's and then I found it $10 cheaper per roll online...

Tony is putting John to bed now, he had a brief shower outside in the rain (great idea, Naomi), and I am working-working-working.