Ok, sorry I’m down to nightly updates, but that’s about the best I can do at this point. Eli is obviously still in the PICU. Things are progressing, but slowly. The head peds doctor said that wasn’t uncommon. They are guessing the earliest the respirator will come out is Saturday. This morning they were predicting Monday, but that’s probably a bit long (we pray). They were able to get his blood pressure to stabilize to normal (that was step 1). So, they took him off the blood pressure meds and they stayed normal. Then they could give him a med that would make him flush out all of his built up fluids (which he has a lot). That couldn’t happen until the blood pressure was normal. So, that was step 2.
Now they need to wean him off the respirator, which they are doing very slowly. They actually have him on a paralytic medicine that paralyzes him because when he wakes up and moves around, he causes problems with the respirator. So, they will start to wean him off of that tomorrow and if he does ok with more breathing on his own, the respirator could possibly come out Saturday. I’m not looking forward to the time he’s awake, not paralyzed from moving around, but still having the respirator because he’ll be so frustrated he can’t talk and frankly he’ll be a bit scared. However, that’s the order it has to go. He has basically been sleeping for 48 hours straight now. They keep moving him around so he won’t develop bed sores, but it’s a bit inevitable.
So, I took some pictures today and went ahead and uploaded them to the Photo Gallery so everyone could get a good idea as to why we still need lots of prayer. However, I will warn you that it could be a bit bothersome for some people (especially kids) as he is extremely swollen and has many tubes coming out of him. That’s why I didn’t put it as the main picture. If you want to see them, you’ll have to go into the Photo Gallery. They all try to prepare you for what you’re going to see, but there is still something about it that hits you when you actually see it.
I thought most of you would appreciate Dr. LaQuaglia’s comment after the consultation that I didn’t get to elaborate on. As he was leaving, I said, “Thank you for all of your hard work today.” He shook his head, pointed up and said “No, don’t thank me. Thank the Lord.” I told him he had thousands of prayers going up for him that day. He said “Thank you.” A very humble physician who is using the talents God gave him to the fullest.
We are totally excited that my awesome brother (Adam, aka Uncle Dodo) and equally awesome sister-in-law (Jo, aka Aunt JoJo) decided yesterday to come visit us in New York this weekend. For the record, my brother wasn’t awesome until I moved out of the house to go to college and we didn’t live together anymore. 🙂 We’re looking forward to some familiar faces for sure!
So, thanks for the prayers. Can’t say that enough. We are so grateful for you all and pray God will bless you for your faithfulness in supporting our family.