Day 124- Continued

My laptop is only working sporadically. It's having trouble pulling from the AC power source, and the batteries run out quickly. It's a small annoyance compared to everything else going on, but an annoyance nonetheless. I'm going to try and squeeze in an update while it's working...

Holden had a pretty decent night. It amazes me to see how resilient kids are. He knows he doesn't feel right, and he's still pretty uncomfortable, but the strength of his will is stronger than the pain. I went down to get something to eat last night and when I got back to the room, Trent had Holden sitting up in bed. He was happily watching his favorite movie- Finding Nemo- and didn't even seem to remember he had major abdominal surgery the day before. Amazing.

He did have to get a little extra morphine last night, but he hasn't had any since then. I would have been crying and begging for more drugs before the morphine even tried to wear off. To say this kid is a superhero doesn't do him justice.

My biggest concern is his lungs, as we kind of expected. His xrays don't look much different than yesterday morning (still a little hazy), but he's really junky-sounding. When they deep suction him- which is a universally hated experience- they're pulling up pink/red fluid where before it had been pretty clear. We're not sure if it's blood from the irritation of the suctioning or if it's a little bit of pulmonary edema, but we're going to be watching that closely. He's still on a pretty high flow of oxygen, which he pulls out of his nose over and over again. The high flow seems to really bother him, and we spent the night getting up every five minutes to replace the canula. He doesn't stay afloat long without help, unfortunately.

Other than that, he's doing so well. We'll stay down here in the CICU until we're sure that his respiratory issues don't develop into anything more serious, but we hope to be back on the floor this weekend.

Dr. Pearse, our cardiologist, came by to see him last night, and she asked that we say a few prayers for two of her other patients. Justin and Kaleb are both patients here at CMC, and they are having a really rough time this week. We have been humbled and awed by the many prayers lifting Holden up these past few days, and I would so appreciate an extra prayer for these sweet little boys and their parents.

I'll go ahead and post some pictures from our camera archives while I have the laptop to do it, but these will probably be the last ones I'll be able to post for a while... My laptop has to go back to the fix-it man, so I'll only be able to post updates until I get it back. (I'll also post the pictures from Ren as soon as I get the CD.)

As always, thank you so much for your unending prayers and support. They mean the world to us, and we are so very grateful.

Always working those jazz hands

Chewing on his leads... Yes, he knows better

Sucking on a chocolate cookie, but being careful not to swallow any

Getting ready for his one-year pictures

Such a handsome little wad of boy :)

He's getting spoiled in the rocking chair, and I am totally okay with that. (The hat is Dad's addition.)

I love how fat his face looks here!

His "mean" face. This is usually followed by a face grab.

A new kind of chuckle.

Jazz hands again.

Always smiling, no matter what. I love this kid.

Sitting at the window, soaking in some sun. This is as close as he gets to outside.

He misses the sun.

Right after his last surgery.

Freshly extubated.

His first really alert period, with no crying.

Sitting up watching his movie, less than 24 hours after surgery. Seriously, he amazes.