Friday, July 17, 2009

Day 3

Rafa, the brave one, continues to live up to his namesake, "God healed." We are also riding the kiddie version of the CDH roller-coaster right now. He's remained stable since the day of his birth, but as they look toward moving his progress forward, they need to tweak his course of treatment, and as always, he has something to say about that.

We started out the morning by finding out that he'd had a very stable night (thank God) and that his blood pressure medication had been lowered because his nurses felt he would do just as well without as much. This is, of course, a big "hooray"! By the afternoon, the tenor on of the conversation had changed as it came to involve an accumulation of fluid in his chest cavity, not to be confused with his lungs. This fluid was preventing the development of his right lung and needed to be taken care of, particularly because they are using gentle ventilation to slowly puff his lungs into action and aren't seeing the kind of growth they would like.

Enter Dr. Jennings, to the rescue!

He inserted a small catheter in Rafa's right side to match the one in his left and hoped to see a big gush of fluid, but only saw a small burst instead. The nurses then installed suction to help the fluid move its way along. Tomorrow morning, he will have a chest x-ray that will hopefully show more drainage and some amount of lung growth.

We also welcomed Tia Anabella and Claudia to the greater Boston area, as they came to spend time with us and with Rafa, bringing with them cheer and new books.

Sadly, we must say good-bye to the Bishop-Davidson clan. I think they know what they mean to us, but in case not, I'm telling them now, "You are part of the heart of Team Rafa! We love you more than we can say."

Please focus on his lungs as you think about and pray for our baby in the next few days. While we're at the very beginning of this road, we want to trend to remain an upward one.

And remember that, at the center of this journey, there is a brave, small boy who inspires everyone who meets him.

2 comments:

  1. They are magical lungs. And I have faith and hope.
    I can't wait to meet him. Day trip up as soon as he's ready.
    Love you.

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  2. We'll miss you. So glad we could be here and witness the strength and bravery of your whole family. Many many many blessings on you all.

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