Medical Technology

Well, we had a new dressing put on today. It's a pretty cool application of a basic principle. I'm moving today's picture down a bit as it may/may not be graphic for some. Basically, Isaiah has been producing a lot of drainage with the regular dressing kits. So, wound care came in today and placed a "sponge" into/over the wound area. The sponge is then covered in an air tight dressing and is hooked up to a suction pump. The way it works keeps Isaiah's body dry, the dressing clean, and all the drainage is moved away from the body. Instead of having to be cleaned 2-3x's a day, he now only has to have this dressing changed once every other day. Better for him and the nurses.

His stoma and output looks really good. He has been off the morphine based pain killers for about 2 days now, so he's coming along well. Just gotta get him out of the bed and walking down the hallway.

School Day

Back to school on Monday! He was in the chair for most of the morning and is trying to do what he can to get back on schedule. The team rounded today and I found out a few things:

1) Dr. Dean doesn't scope unless necessary. So unless we're having issues he won't be scheduled for biopsy or scope.

2) Ike is still de-sating when the oxygen is taken off. It's odd because he does fine when he's asleep, and actually slept without the canula yesterday. But when he's awake he has to keep the canula on. He didn't like that.

3) Apparently the small bowel is our tell for how the organs are doing overall. The team said if the bowel is fine, then the liver and pancreas are OK too and there shouldn't be any concern unless there are issues with the bowel.

Overall, very good morning. He is getting up on his own and is starting to act more "isaiah" like. He also got the team to let him have 1oz of water an hour, so he's all over that.

Day 4 - On the road to recovery

Sorry to hijack my wife's thread, but this is Dad.

More tests, more visitors, more recovery. It has been a slow road this time. Having been through 3 different surgeries of this type, Isaiah hasn't been up walking too much this time. We can normally see a big jump from Day 1 to Day 7, but we are on Day 4 and he is just now wanting to get out of the chair. It's normally just to get back into bed, but at least he is up. He is very tired but today marks the first day the medication hasn't made him feel like groundhogs day. He knows who is in his room, and he knows what the nurses are doing to him. We had both central line dressing changes and incision cleaning today and let's say he was not happy. It was a struggle with Jennifer and I just to do one dressing change.

God has really blessed him with a high pain tolerance as well as an awesome prayer and support system. We really appreciate everything everyone has done for our son.

Still putting up the good fight...

He could have died yesterday, but he's still alive. His body has been through so much-he is hurting, sedated and on a ventilator-but he still tried to open his eyes and smile for a picture. It brought tears to my eyes, so I thought I should share this.

Stable and waiting

Stable for now - his liver is still not functioning all the way yet , but the bleed has stopped. They will keep him on the ventilator until tomorrow now.

Praise God for watching out for our boy!

TRANSPLANT TIME!

This is Jen's friend Jen updating her blog. That's what you get for giving me your password!

Isaiah has been matched with donor organs early this afternoon.

He will be receiveing a small bowel, liver & pancreas transplant starting at 11:30pm CST.

Surgery was suppose to be at 5pm then 8pm and has been pushed back.

This surgery will most likely take until noon tomorrow. This is a very risky surgery. Please keep this family, the surgeons & nurses in your prayers!

One of us will be updating this blog often! We all believe that God put this little guy on earth so that when he is older, he will spread the good news Jesus, his adoption and how JESUS HEALED HIM through 2 transplants!

FIGHT ISAIAH FIGHT!

Feeling Better...

The girls and I got into Omaha last night and made a beeline for Isaiah's room in PICU. I had to take the picture fast, before anyone started arguing!!! Isaiah is feeling so much better and looking better too! His nurse said that they will re-evaluate him on Monday and decide if they are going to send him home or keep him there longer. What I learned is that the "Status 1" he has now is just for this week, while he is in PICU. After discharge, he will go back to being just plain old Isaiah, waiting for transplant. Really, that is fine with me. He is in good condition considering everything-we know everything will happen just as it's supposed to.

Isaiah was so happy to know that his puppy is right here in the same city. He have never been apart from Percy at night and we left him at Petsmart PetHotel here in Omaha. We are trying to figure out a way to sneak in a visit. Isaiah suggested that we wheel him and all of his IV pumps and monitors to the parking lot and he could meet up with Percy there. I'm thinking that's not the way to go, but I'm still working on it...