Pressed But Not Crushed
UPDATE 4pm: I just arrived at the hospital. Arthur took a major turn for the worse with his right lung now collapsed. He's on as much support as possible but his left lung can only keep his blood oxygen at about 57%. The doctor said he might rally, but it may take a while and isn't likely. If his heart starts to give out, we'll be allowed to hold him one last time. I'm praying for God's mercy that the blood oxygen will climb back up, but it doesn't look likely.
We didn’t have any updates yesterday because nothing had significantly changed. Arthur’s circulation was better but he was back up to 100% oxygen. One of our doctors who appears to be a lead doctor in the NICU, Dr. Welty, told us that Arthur’s lungs are as bad as he’s ever encountered. He’s had babies recover from lungs like this, but he’s also lost babies like Arthur. Dr. Welty told us he goes home worried about Arthur every night, and we found out from the nursing staff that he came in from home at 2 in the morning to check on Arthur’s ventilator settings.
Arthur after his PICC was placed.
Yesterday, he showed us an X-ray of Arthur’s lungs, and we could see that only about 2/3 of the right lung and 1/8 of the left were functioning properly with air inside them. The right was over-inflated and squishing over to take up space that should have been filled with the left lung. Today we got a new X-ray showing that the left is now inflated equally to the right for the first time in Arthur’s life, according to Dr. Welty. They’re going to work on reducing his oxygen input to levels that are better for long term health.
Arthur is still very much at risk, probably only about 25% of the way towards recovering from this episode. We’re very encouraged to see some progress, but we’re still dealing with the reality that this could still go either way.
Waiting in dread of a call from the hospital is really hard, so Laura and I have been doing a few different things to help us cope. For me it’s been helpful both working out at the gym and working on a backyard office shed so we can convert our current office into a boys room.
Unfortunately, on Friday when Arthur almost died, I was really upset and working it out by framing a few walls on the shed. I wasn’t working as carefully as I usually do and partially dislocated my shoulder. I’ve been very discouraged over the weekend because now my coping mechanisms are unavailable until my shoulder stops feeling like my arm is going to fall off. I could use prayer for that, and that I can find other ways to cope in the meantime.
Laura has been reading a lot of Psalms and listening to her playlist, Seeking Shalom. I’ve been praying a lot more than usual but reading scripture a little less than usual, however the occasional psalm has been very helpful to me as well. Laura and I both identify a lot more directly with the “enemies in every side” Psalms (i.e. Psalm 13), and it’s comforting to have whole Bible chapters that tell us it’s ok to not be ok. Knowing that we’re not alone in all this has been very important. Thank you for your prayers and for all the other ways you’ve been supporting us through this.
Meanwhile in Eatonville…
The girls made a fort in the dog kennel.
Strolling around town.
