Day 27

While at church yesterday, we received a message that R had been switched from the oscillating ventilator to a conventional ventilator. The doctors had felt that he had made enough progress over the past few days to make the switch. Throughout the day Sunday, R's blood gas scores continued to get better. This was a major milestone! As of Monday morning, he remains on the ventilator and adjustments are made as needed after blood draws every four hours.

I woke up this morning and had a voicemail from the hospital. The staff determined that there had been a perforation in his small bowel and R had to have emergency surgery about 1:30 am Monday morning. The doctor said this morning during rounds that they were able to repair the problem and cleaned out the leakage. The downside is that his poor body had to endure another surgery and there is a risk of infection anytime surgery is performed. There is added risk since they had to remove waste that had leaked out of his bowel. The upside is that they were able to correct the tear in his bowel. They were also able to close his incision completely. Previously, his incision remained open with a vacuum (for lack of better words) that promoted drainage and healing of the tissues. The last bit of good news is that now fluids (nutrients, etc.) are making their way along the digestive tract and his bowel is being put to work. We are hoping that, despite the surgery, his bowel and liver and kidneys can begin to function - and function well.

So, R continues to hold our attention. In the past 24 hours, we've gone from elation over his progress with the vent changes to "what is going on here" with the surgery and then back to cautious optimism that he will recover well from the latest surgery and get back on track to making improvements. Quite the rollercoaster for us, but I am continuously reminded how it must be for R. His little body continues to fight. We will continue to fight with him.

Thanks for journeying with us.