Praying for Katie

Today has been a quiet morning here with me and Rudy.  He’s made continued steady progress, but yesterday’s talk of trying to take him off the ventilator today is not being discussed today.  There is unanimity among the doctors that we want to get him off the respirator, but some differing viewpoints on the rate.  As much as we want those tubes out of him so we can hold him and let him holler, it would be demoralizing to take them out too early and then have to re-intubate.  This morning, he went on a good two-hour sprint and now they have dialed down the resting rate significantly so that he has to work a bit more—at first his O2 saturation wasn’t coming up high enough, but he seems to getting a good rhythm and isn’t setting off too many alarms.  There are still some lingering signs of infection, so they are going to switch antibiotics and perhaps try to start a new catheter line today as the subclavian line might be a source.  They have also backed down the Fentanyl he was receiving for pain and sedation so he’s a bit more active and not sure how much he likes that.

Since last night our friends, the Mannings, have been on our hearts as they are at a very difficult place with Katie’s HLHS treatment (click here).  It serves to remind me of what a delicate process we’re on.  It has often occurred to me in writing that I pray there will be a happy ending to our story, but that’s not guaranteed.  Alan and Vickie have demonstrated to us that, in the midst of so many uncertainties, there are places for laughter, celebration and optimism just as there are places of concern, frustration and brutal realism.  It’s hard to express the way this journey pitches one back between incredible highs and troublesome lows; often asking us to embrace both at the same time.  Our prayers are with you, Alan and Vickie!