Day 20?

Here is our little monkey!




















I think (?) that today marks our 20th day at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. It's been so long that the days are blurring together and I'm loosing track. We have been at the hospital since May 5.

Today was a good day. Here's a brief re-cap:

• Dustin was afebrile all night and has also been afebrile today as well (so far). He did not have to be given any Tylenol or Motrin and no PRNs of morphine were administered.

• Dustin was playful this morning and tolerated a 25 minute PT session quite well! Dustin's motor skills are less coordinated, but should improve as he continues to gain strength over the next few days and once he is weaned from the narcotics.

• The ID physician believes that Dustin will be sent home with one/several antibiotics to continue to reduce the inflammation in his lungs.

• Dustin's withdrawal treatments were not tapered today (as compared to yesterday). Since Dustin had several fevers yesterday that arose just prior to the time when his medicine was due and the temperature dropped shortly after the administration of the narcotic, it was thought that the continuing fevers from yesterday were withdrawal symptoms.

• Dustin's CRP marker was down this morning (high levels of CRP in the blood means that there is infection in the body somewhere).

• Dustin's chest tube was removed today.

• A chest x-ray shows that Dustin's lungs are okay following the removal of his chest tube.

And so, we continue to see much progress. One big milestone toward our return home was successful extraction of the chest tube. It would appear that we've met this milestone.

After the Memorial Day Holiday, a speech therapist and/or developmental specialist will visit Dustin. This morning during rounds, I expressed some concern that Dustin is not using the "ta", "da", "ma" sounds that he used prior to his surgery. Instead, he is using an "uh" and not too much else. The physicians did not seem terribly concerned about this issue. Since Dustin has been on many different medications and is continuing the withdrawal protocol, his lack of motor coordination and language choices may be due to his medicated state. Nevertheless, we will be able to speak to someone more knowledge regarding the possibilities next week!

Thank you for your continued prayers for Dustin, Tim and I. We know that God has heard your prayers and is demonstrating His faithfulness in a very mighty way!