When the Otago Daily Times visited the young family yesterday, Mackye was enjoying a hearty lunch while bouncing along to music amid giggles and laughter.
Without looking at the scar on his chest, it would be hard to guess he had been through life-saving surgery just weeks before.
Mr Salmon and Ms Michelle travelled to Auckland with Mackye on February 16, after which he had a series of pre-operation procedures before the open heart surgery was performed on February 24.
Ms Michelle said he had recovered well and, despite a slight murmur, the heart and lung defects he was born with were gone.
"Tissue will eventually grow over a very small hole still there.
We will continue to give him a bit of physio and in one month we'll take him to Dunstan Hospital for a check-up.
"After that, we will take him to Dunedin for another check, in about six to 12 months from now," she said.
Mr Salmon said in many respects it had been a longer adjustment for him and Michelle than Mackye, who bounced back from surgery within days.
"Getting back to work and home is great, it's just taken a bit of getting used to after three weeks of being in hospital and not knowing what day it is," he said.
The couple, who are engaged to be married, were over-whelmed by support shown to them from the local community, which donated more than $3700 into the Heart Baby Mackye Charitable Fund.
The account was set up in February through the National Bank in Alexandra.
Mr Salmon said the help was a "light at the end of the tunnel", and the money would be kept for Mackye's treatment.
"We are just so thankful to everyone who helped us out, through the bank account and by supporting Dan Murphy's radio fundraising initiative," Ms Michelle said.
