Recovery Day 2: Slow Progress

Noah has had a good day today, though slower progress than earlier. He is in no pain and remains very groggy. He complains less about thirst since we are allowed to feed him sips of water through a "sponge lollipop". He continually complains about wanting to eat, and makes "spoon to mouth" hand motions every few minutes. I'll admit it's tough to keep telling our little boy, "Yes, I know you're hungry and I'm sorry you can't eat yet."

The various treatments he's on are an amazing balance. As I mentioned earlier, he's on a sedative and pain killers to keep him from moving around. The heart-lung balance is intriguing and complex and I certainly can't explain it all, but I'll tell you what I've learned: Because Noah's heart had a 19mm hole in the middle, he didn't have a "low pressure side" and a "high pressure side" like in a normal heart. So his lungs and body were accustomed to receiving a certain level of pressure (and volume and low oxygen). Now that Drs. Hanley and Sebastian rebuilt his "plumbing" to "normal" and closed the 19mm hole (called VSD), his lungs are now getting much more pressure than they are accustomed to! This leads to stress on the lungs (pulmonary hypertension), so to reduce that, Noah is breathing special air with Nitrous Oxide (NO2) in it to help the lungs' blood vessels. Slowly, they've been reducing this NO2 so hopefully the breathing tube can soon come out (and Noah can eat and talk!).

Now, chances are I've said something wrong in that paragraph- so don't go quote me to a cardiologist! (Ha ha). But I just wanted to explain a bit why he has the respirator in and why he cannot eat or talk.

Well, that's the update for tonight. Thanks for reading and most of all, for your prayers. God is Good.

Adam (+Robin)
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