He's Not Normal

Well, day 1 is over and everything is looking up. The doctors struggled with Graham's blood pressure throughout the entire surgery and was a big concern once it ended. He is slowly being weened off all of his blood pressure meds and as of now (8/25/10) he is only on 1 of the 3 and a really low dose of it. AND his blood pressure is staying normal!!!
If you don't know Graham, the child ain't normal. And I love him that way. On our first visit in the ICU his precious, precious nurse Kristen's first words to me were "He's not Normal.  Most transplant patients sleep, he's awake and alert." Now, with all the stress and anxiousness of the morning all I could do was start laughing and crying. Because, he isn't normal!
He is such a fighter. He is having to do all this with low doses of sedatives - which means he's awake and feeling most of the pain. He does get some Morphine, but not enough. I feel so bad for him. But luckily he won't remember most of it. He communicates well, and getting frustrated that he can't talk. He can nod, point and spell with his fingers. He squeezes my hand and my heart flutters. By the end of the day we had perfected communication. It is a combination of spelling and yes/no questions.
The amazing Husband/Head of House that he is...one of the first questions he had: Did I call his Insurance/Disability lady and have I handled my FMLA paperwork.  He then began to ask about all his friends and family.  Have I kept them up to date, do they know what's going on, how is his Miss Jordan.  It was so awesome to know that he was still Graham and with it.  He even started joking around with us (yes, he still knows one form of sign language!!!). 
He is moving forward, that is so great!  He is really doing his part and fighting hard.  He may be moving in baby steps, but at least they are in the right direction.
Thanks again for all your kind thoughts and prayers.  They are being answered and everything is working out!  Hope to post again at the end of the day.  -Erin