Day 28

Today we are four weeks post transplant. Once again, every day we have with R is a blessing.

He has made some remarkable strides the past several days and continues to do so today. Today, he continued to show improvements with his blood gas values. With each test (about every four hours), they will adjust the settings on the ventilator. He currently gets about 36% oxygen from the ventilator - room air is about 26%. From the settings on the ventilator, we can see that he is also breathing more on his own. The other big change of the day is that the doctors took him off of the paralytic drug. It may take a day or two for it to work itself out of his system, but once it does, he should be a little more alert and aware of his surroundings.

R continues to be on some strong antibiotics. We are hoping that his recent surgery will be his last and that no infection sets in. He continues to be on dialysis and amiodarone - the cardiac drug. There was no word today about changes to either of those. That's alright with us - slow and steady progress. No more emergency surgeries!

We are excited about his progress and the great news today! We are giving thanks for the progress he has made and, in faith, giving thanks for the progress he has yet to make. Thank you for praying with us.