Day 71

Please forgive us for the lack of updates on the blog. They might be less frequent than before, but please continue to pray for his healing. Our little buddy is still in the intensive care unit, but has made great strides the past few weeks. Here is an update...

- He remains off of the ventilator and is breathing very well.

- He has been off of dialysis since the last post - about two weeks now. He was on a diuretic medication (lasix) to help him pee. He did so well, they took him off and he continued to pee. This morning, they did start him on a small amount again because he had not done much the past 24 hours.

- Last week, he pulled out his central line. This was used to give him medications directly into the bloodstream. He was taken to surgery to replace it.

- A scope was performed two days ago. Overall, the doctor was pleased. He did say there were some signs of mild rejection, but feels steroids should take care of it.

- R has a nj-tube in - it runs through his nose to his bowel. Through the tube, doctors were able to feed him. Last evening, he decided to pull it out. We're not sure if he had had enough of it or didn't like the color of the tube - he doesn't seem to want to talk about it. Needless to say, since this tube is his lifeline, it is going back in today and the doctor has said that he needs to learn to leave it in.

- On the abdominal front, R's incision continues to heal nicely. The fistula (sp?) that developed in the middle of his incision is where his body has decided to put out the stool. It has been a challenge for the nurses to collect all of the stool and fluids coming out of the fistula, ostomy site, mucous fistula and g-tube site. Poor guy has a lot of drainage areas.

Despite all that is going on, R is alert and awake. We see flares of his personality coming through sometimes (i.e. pulling tubes out). He still has a long way to go, but we are so thankful that God has brought him this far. We enjoy all of the time we have with him, especially the few times we've been able to hold him. We look forward to continued healing and an increase in his mobility.

Thank you for your continued prayers!