Henry Update

Once again I want to thank all of you for praying for my friend Kara's son, Henry. He is continuing to take baby steps of improvement, and today I got to see a photo on Facebook of his older brother, William, visiting him in the hospital. You could see William reaching out a finger to touch Henry's little hand...brought tears to my eyes.

Here's an update directly from Kara's blog, Three Little Kings. I have passed along all your prayers and wishes to her, and I know they are so encouraging. Seriously, you guys are amazing! And I'll be back with a subway sign tutorial tomorrow! :)

Yesterday was a bigger day than usual. After I posted the "Day 12" blog, the doctors came for rounds and decided to switch Henry back to the ventilator after all. We were surprised, but have gained such a confidence in the Attending Physician that we felt fine about the decision. And it was a good one! Henry was switched back to the vent yesterday morning and was able to come off the paralytic medication at the same time. We hadn't realized we would see him wake up from his medical "slumber" yesterday, so it was really exciting when he began to open his eyes and realize we were there. He focused on each of us and even started to try to cry when he made eye contact (it was SO heartbreaking . . . especially as he struggled with the ventilator while crying . . . because we can't pick him up to comfort him).

He has been alert for long intervals since then, and it has been a joy to catch a glimpse of our Henry behind all the wires, tubes and swelling. He is losing some of the swelling, especially in his face, but his body has a long way to go. He weighs an extra 3 kilos right now, which is over 30% of his body weight. The lasix is helping him lose the edema, but it's not a quick process.

We were on a bit of a high yesterday as such a BIG step was taken, and I have to admit I've hit a low today. It felt like the pace was picking up and giving us hope yesterday, which all came to a screeching halt as not much has changed today, but I do remind myself that no news is still good news at this stage. We're back to baby steps today, but we are so thankful that they are in the right direction.