Today is the first day of week 3 for this hospital stay. Two weeks ago today, I became overly concerned about Matthew’s breathing, decided it was NOT a side effect of the iron infusion, and headed down to Children’s with all my babies. We thought it would be a pretty straightforward visit. One week ago today we were anticipating a meeting during which we were going to discuss the court order for his DNR (Do not resuscitate), the course his illness would take prior to his death, and our rights with respect to burying our boy since his adoption has not yet finalized. Today we are elated that weaning from the ventilator is becoming a reality, and we are no longer waiting with Mr. Bug on death’s doorstep. We are well aware that he is still so sick that his chances of dying are greater than his chances of surviving this. However, if progress like he is making continues, we will be looking into rehabilitation and talking about bringing him home sometime in the months to come! I’ll take that over visiting a grave with flowers any day!
Weaning from the pressure ventilator (that’s the correct name!) continues! Yesterday the machine was set at 11, today they decreased it to 9, and they plan to decrease it even more tonight, depending on how he tolerates it. Paired with his x-rays from today, which showed slight improvement in his lungs, it appears that his lungs are actually beginning to heal! He is off his blood pressure medication for the most part, so his heart is so far working perfectly. Also, we have gone an entire week now without any backslide! It took a while for his lungs to start to show any sign of improvement, and progress is so painfully slow, but it is so encouraging that they are moving in the right direction! His kidneys have continued to be in failure mode with no sign of improvement. I think they will be the last organ to come back as the drugs are helping the lungs but hindering the kidneys. It may be a few more weeks before we have any real progress there. It is fortunate that medical equipment is such that a dialysis machine can perform the job his kidneys cannot!
Tonight I took Auntie Chelsea and Judah down to visit Mr. Bug. Judah has been asking to see him, and he is pretty frustrated that his brother is not home to use his crib and sword fight with him. He was very happy to spend time with our FAVORITE nurse, eat the yummy snacks we have at the hospital, learn all about the dialysis machine, and discover that if he becomes a nurse he can not only run such a machine, but he can ride in the helicopter while running the dialysis machine. Oh, a dream come true! The only thing better might be if the helicopter were equipped with Nerf artillery and water balloon bomb capabilities. Kiara and Judah both colored some pictures for Mr. Bug to hang in his room so he will have something wonderful and beautiful to look at when he wakes up. This is very important, explained Kiara, so that he is not scared when he looks around. Sweet children. The subject of their soothing art? Darth Vader…ROAWWRRRRR!!!
DON’T STOP PRAYING!!!!!!!!!!
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