Wow

Isaac and his "Doggy"... these two are never far apart!

Tube free and reading books... what a beautiful and familiar sight :)

Yesterday morning, one of the residents of Dr. Kozak (the ENT who did Isaac's bronchoscopies, intubation and extubation) came to check on Isaac. He was very happy with how Isaac's breathing is sounding, and told me something that I think I had missed earlier. He said "When we went in and did the second bronchoscopy last Tuesday, we couldn't believe our eyes at what we saw. We stood in stunned amazement at how much healing had taken place in just a week. The granulars (beginning scar tissue) were gone, bleeding was gone, and hardly any swelling remained. We all had seen what bad shape Isaac was in when we intubated him, and we were shocked at how much healing happened so quickly. I've never seen anything like it. You have a very lucky boy." I responded with "Well.. that's because this boy has hundreds of people from here to India praying for him!" He said, "Yep - I guess that would do it!" Wow.

Last night, Isaac began his oral feeds (drinking Pediasure from a bottle, instead of through his feeding tube), and it's going very well. Today we will start to gradually introduce solids. This morning, the doctor took out his feeding tube and his IV. It's so nice to give our boy a hug without him hooked up to any machine, and with no cords or tubes in the way!

This morning, we also got some big news. We may be going home tomorrow! Wow. Not sure if we're ready for that yet! Isaac is doing very well overall - he is sitting up for longer periods of time on his own, he is talking and signing, laughing lots, drinking well, and his bowel issues have almost been resolved. The remaining issue is that he is still weaning off of morphine. The doctors are reluctant to send us home while Isaac is still on morphine (and we agree). Since he is doing well, they are planning to speed up the weaning process and give him his last dose tomorrow afternoon. If he responds well, they will then send us home! They will be watching him carefully between now and then, as he did not react well when they tried to lower his doses too quickly last week. It's not that he actually still needs morphine, it's that after being on such high doses for even just a week, he has already developed a dependence on it and has to be taken off slowly.

So.... wow. Lots to be thankful and grateful for!