Waking Up

Sorry for the belated post, folks. It's been a few days since the last one -- mea culpa.

Our little boy is awake! After getting a paralytic drug (vecuronium) for almost 48 hours, it was turned off late yesterday morning, and he began to rouse from his medicinally-induced slumber early yesterday evening. When Rose and I visited this morning, we saw our his eyes for the first time in several days, which was exciting. By early afternoon, he was moving his arms and legs, and he even smiled for his Nana Beth (Rose's mother). Again, very exciting. :) Since Jude's still receiving a lot of drugs for his pain and to keep him sedated, he's a little bit groggy when he's awake; nevertheless, rousing and moving, even if he's a little "out of it," will be good for him.

From a respiratory standpoint, Jude's still on a conventional ventilator on minimal settings. He's not yet in a position where he can be extubated, but he's nonetheless in pretty good shape. He has some lung collapse on the upper part of his right lung, but his left lung (which is actually much smaller than his right one) is well expanded. Now that Jude's abdominal organs are no longer in his chest following his latest hernia repair surgery, his lungs and his heart should have sufficient room to move back into their proper places and/or grow. The movement and growth of his chest organs is a very long, gradual process, but we're hoping and praying that, with time, his organs (particularly his lungs) will have the opportunity to grow.

When Jude had surgery on Monday, at the conclusion of the procedure he had a chest tube place on the left side of his torso, which has been draining blood and other fluid that has accumulated in that area. As this blood and fluid has been drained from his chest, Jude has, at the same time, been dealing with fluid retention issues throughout his body. When the body is subjected to some significant trauma like invasive surgery, its natural inflammatory response entails a tendency to hold onto fluid. This fluid retention manifests itself through the fluid leaking or "getting into" the spaces around the blood vessels throughout the body. As time passes, as Jude's kidneys continue to do their job, as he continues to receive a diuretic (Lasix) that helps him urinate, and as his volume of fluid intake goes down (i.e. from medicines, IV nutrition, and whatnot), then Jude's bodily swelling will slowly begin to get better.

Big picture: Jude is doing very well as he recovers from his surgery.

That's all for tonight, folks. Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep 'em coming.