Brief update and an encouragement...

We have come to realize the truth of what some of our best ICU nurses have told us from the beginning--life in the ICU is a roller coaster. The up's and down's are almost constant. The doctors hope for the best, but often deal with the worst...calmly and in an un-surprised sort of way. Jackson is far from "worst", but progress is slow as usual. They weaned his oxygen through the night as planned, but after getting down to 4 liters ended up having to increase back up to 6. Not a huge concern--just means he isn't quite ready. His chest X-ray showed a bit of right upper lobe collapse (nothing new for him...it's come and gone several times throughout all this respiratory process), so they restarted some respiratory treatments to help break up any mucous that might be making his lungs "sticky" and unable to expand as well. His white blood count was up this morning (could be from his recent steroid medication or from an infection), so an antibiotic was started. His temperature and heart rate were elevated throughout the day which could also signal infection. Tonight his temperature and heart rate are back to normal. His hemoglobin (I believe) was a bit on the low end, so he got a blood transfusion. The nurse said the area at the base of his chest incision as well as the area of skin above his pacemaker were a bit reddened. They are exploring this as a possible source of the infection (if there is one). These days are hard. Thank you for standing with us. We can't wait for each of you to meet him and see for yourself all God has done! Speaking of which, one of the nurses from the Transport Team (those who cared for Jackson at birth and on his helicopter flight) came by Jackson's room yesterday. She spoke with me, gawked over Jackson, and finished by telling him, "There must be a very big purpose for your life." Her words hit me very forcefully--they had so much authority. I felt it was from the Lord.