Day 13

Yesterday, I promised a noon update. As it is now 8:48 pm, I won't make any more promises. Here is the news of the day...

Jen received a call this morning from the hospital that R was not doing well and we should probably come in. When the hospital tells you to come in, you know it's serious. Jen had been told that R's heart rate had been racing at 280 beats per minute and his blood pressure was falling. There was a liver doctor and "cardiac team" in the room evaluating him at that time.

By the time we arrived about 20 minutes later, R had stabilized and staff were trying to figure out what had happened. They gave him a pretty powerful medication that would keep his heart rate within a safe threshold. Throughout the afternoon, staff was paying close attention to his heart rate rhythm. They also have taken him off of dialysis for today to give his body a break. As of this evening, R is stable and is doing "very well" (in the words of the PICU nurse). He has had a restful day.

We have learned to take the good news and bad news in stride, at the end of the day being thankful that he made it through the day. The hospital staff has mentioned and we are beginning to realize that this could be a very long recovery process. Whatever the time table, we will continue to be thankful for R's progress and will look forward with great anticipation to the day when we will leave the hospital and take R home. What an exciting day that will be!

Thank you for your continued prayers!