The Waiting Game

Well, things are going well. Lincoln is handling breathing pretty good. We finally get to see his whole face. Since he is not going to eat for two weeks they pulled out the NG tube out of his nose. Now that he is extubated we are told we can hold him although not quite yet. His breathing is still quite fast (60-85 breaths per min)...so when he gets excited or agitated the breathing rate goes even higher and his "saturations" (oxygen in the blood) goes down and his blood pressure goes up. So when those things get better we will be able to hold him. Oh...and by the way the oxygen level in his blood is now down to 75-85% and holding...praise God! They are not quite sure why he is breathing this fast. They are still speculating that the band might not be tight enough around his pulmonary artery. But as long as his blood gases, vital signs, saturations & no sounds of water on his lungs are o.k. then they are fine with his high rate of breathing. Lincoln's chest tube drainage has slowed down a lot. As long as they are not draining it means that the duct can now begin to heal and there should be no presence of extra water near his lungs for them to soak up. We just have to wait & wait & wait. This will be very hard considering Lincoln is trying to make forward progress, and having the threat of fluid near the lungs & infection because of his chest tubes only makes the waiting harder. Not to mention his tubes are so painful and now they want to start weaning his pain medication because of withdrawal. So continue to pray that the pulmonary band is sufficient, the chylothorax heals and he continues to make forward progress with out infection. Last night before we left the hospital, we saw Lincoln making the funniest face expressions while he was sleeping. He must have been having a good dream because we caught a picture of him smiling. Kristen and I are doing o.k. The hospital routine is so exhausting! We forget sometimes that there is a world out there happening around us but time seams to stand still when you never leave the hospital...plus there is only so much cafeteria food one can eat! But we are doing good. Continue to pray for our emotional, physical & spiritual strength as those tanks sometimes run low. Thank you for all your support and prayers. During the nurses shift change (from 7-8 pm), we go to the hospital library and read the blog. The messages are so encouraging to us! Cant wait for you all to see this little peanut you have been praying for. We love you all! J&K