Day 38

R has had a very good week. The settings on his ventilator are very low and they are doing sprints with him now. This is when they turn the machine's work down to 0 for an hour and give him the opportunity to do all of the work. This will hopefully strengthen his respiratory system for the day that they decide to take him off the ventilator. Some of the doctors talked about taking him off on Sunday. We will see as the weekend progresses.

Another new area for us is his feedings. They have hooked him up to a slow drip of a low fat/high protein substance that goes into his stomach. He tolerated this extremely well for 24 hours so they increased the dosage. At 7:00pm tonight, he became sick and vomited. The formula was also draining from his g tube. They are going to stop the feeding line until 10:00pm tonight and then resume at the lower dosage. This is brand new stuff for his body, so we are thrilled that he has tolerated any of the feeds.

Did you ever think a group of people would be cheering for someone to pee? At rounds today when the nurse told the group of transplant doctors and nurses that he had a wet diaper, everyone was excited. Even though R wet a little last night, it was not enough for the doctor to be satisfied. She wants to see more output, so they are continuing the dialysis machine for 12 hours on and then 12 hours off.

R has his little hands in restraints now. The nurses are amazed at how quickly he can go for one of his lines and tug. Our favorite nurse was laughing today saying that he is so used to hospital life that he knows exactly how to maneuver his fingers and hands to rip off tape and try to get the lines off of him and out of his nose. It was great to see him so awake, yet I am so looking forward to the day that he is free from the ventilator and all of these tubes. What a blessing it will be for R to be able to play with toys and be able to move around on his own! We give God the praise for all He has done in R's body and all He will do. R is nothing short of many miracles. Thank you for your prayers.