Braeden got pretty low over Christmas so they took him to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. They decided several things. The morphine wasn't doing the trick to keep his pain under control so they put an epidural tube right into his spine. This seems to be doing the trick better. They removed almost 12 ounces of fluid from his lungs so he's breathing better now. Imagine a pop can full from the lungs of a 3 year old.
There is still some crud in his lungs but the respiratory therapist is watching that very carefully and they are doing breathing treatments every day. Evidently he doesn't like that machine and when she said today that she wasn't going to use it, he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, indicating relief. Then she said maybe tomorrow he wouldn't have to have it either if he still was doing well. He gave her a thumbs up signal. SO CUTE. About made me cry seeing him so sick but still having a sense of humor. She asked if he would give her a smile and he did manage to twitch the corners of his mouth and ALMOST smile.
He still has the pee pee bag and has another tube pulling any fluids out of his tummy. He is nauseus at times even though he's only receiving clear fluids. He was able to sit up today alone so is gaining strength.
Since the time early in the fall when Dawn and Kevin began to receive flyers from toy stores, Braeden has been yammering for a Home Depot tool kit. This kit has a power drill, a jig saw, a sawzall with two blades, a flashlight and two interchangeable batteries just like a real set of power tools. Kevin couldn't resist getting it for him for Christmas. He wants to fix motorcycles and racecars with it when he grows up he said. Kevin said that yesterday when Braeden was still pretty sick and sleeping a lot, the drill layed on his chest with his finger on the trigger. Every so often they would hear, "RRRR RRRR" and they'd look and Braeden still had his eyes closed but was making the drill work.
Here's the latest Care Pages:
This morning I was awakened at 5 am by a little voice chattering away to Leslie, his night nurse. What a wonderful sound. Granted, this may be the last time I say that. It was rather early... :-)
He is doing better today. Still chewing through blood and platelets, he got more platelets already today, but he's more awake and talking better for sure. His mouth seems to be better too. Now we're just waiting for some white cells to show up, it looks like they're starting to come back. He's been running a low temp on and off still, but not real high like the oher night. We are still in PICU and still on the epidural. We heard that they are not planning to start the actual radiation treatment until Monday, which is discouraging. Blood pressure has still been an issue so they are still juggling meds. All in all, though, this feels like progress! He's been playing with his power tools in his bed, and it's a great sight to see!
Thank you all for the many prayers said on our behalf, we are thankful!
Mostly Braeden just watched Peter Pan and Sponge Bob while we were there. He had just had a bunch of bandages messed with and the frown on his forehead let us know right away he wasn't very happy right then so didn't say much. He made sure no one touched his big toe that had that doodad that measures the oxygen in the system. His little "big" toe looked like a Christmas tree light, so red. Two hours later we decided to leave and he insisted of giving Grandpa and I several "high 5s" and shook our hands several times. His hand looked so tiny in Grandpa's big old work swollen hand.
