Foligno said he has spent much of the past two weeks at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus with his wife, Janelle, and at one point slept on a couch there four nights in a row. His son is off a ventilator but remains in the intensive care unit.
"When you see your kid that age fighting, no kid should have to be on a breathing ventilator or dealing with this at that young an age," he said. "He's not the only one. You see other families and people in there; it just makes you appreciate the life you have and the health you have.
"I'm looking forward to putting that to good use tonight."
The Blue Jackets went 1-2-1 without their captain, a forward who has 30 points (16 goals, 14 assists) in 66 games. He learned of the collapsed lung after the Blue Jackets' 3-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 15 and decided not to travel to Boston for a game the next day. He also missed road games against the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.
Foligno practiced Tuesday morning.
"It was awesome," forward Boone Jenner said. "When we saw him this morning there were smiles on lot of our faces. I know he's excited to be back. We definitely missed him out west and at this time of the year."
The Blue Jackets (41-30-4) are two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with six games remaining.
"It feels weird to be away from them at such a crucial time," Foligno said. "My heart bleeds when I'm not there that I can't be there and knowing what we're going through."
He missed five games earlier this season because of health concerns for his 5-year-old daughter, Milana, who was born with a congenital heart defect. He missed a game at Carolina on Nov. 17 because she had a virus. Milana later had a heart procedure, and he missed four games from Dec. 31-Jan. 8.
Foligno said he's learned how to put aside off-ice matters when he's playing.
"If I'm going to step on the ice," he said, "I owe it to these guys to make sure I'm doing what I need to do well, so I've been able to separate the two."
