They're working!

Your much coveted prayers are working today.  Jude's condition has stabilized!!!


GLORY BE TO OUR FATHER!!!


Okay.. some details..


When Jude arrived at ER yesterday, he had some scary stats.  He was retaining his CO2 and his level was way to high at 85.  They got his level to 61 with the use of a Vaportherm (sp?), and deep suctioned almost two ounces of mucus from his airway. 


Once Jude got to the PICU, his CO2 level came up a little to 62, then to 65, and finally to 75.  This was about 6am, and Jude's PICU doctor said they were about to intubate him.  They tried one more effort, a BiPAP machine set to high levels that forces air into Jude's lungs hoping to let the CO2 out of them.


The doctors and nurses stood over his bedside for waiting to intubate him when the test results came back showing that Jude's CO2 level had come down to 61.  They put off the intubation for an hour, but the doctor warned us that we might just be putting off the inevitable. We gave thanks to our Father IMMEDIATELY!


About 45 minutes later they repeated the blood gas and we held our breath waiting for the results.  It came back 52 and we cried with joy again.  They removed the intubation cart from our room.


Jude is still on the BiPAP at a high setting so the doctor said we can't say he's better, just stable.


Pediatric cardiology came by and examined Jude.  They concluded that his heart looked wonderful, and that RSV had not seemed to add any stress to it.  Another "Praise the Lord" right there.


We've talked to the new PICU doctor on shift and she is pleased with him right now.  She said he will probably stay on the BiPAP for another day or two then step down to the Vaportherm.  Then, Jude will step down from the Vaportherm to a regular cannula and we get to move to a room.  Once Jude can hold his own on room air again, then we can go home.  Of course they can't tell us how long this process takes.. it depends on Jude and his healing time.  However, they prepared us for a 7-10 day hospital stay.  Talk about meeting your deductible.


Well Jude is resting well, and I finally managed to get a two hour nap earlier.  So I feel much better.  And even though I hate seeing Jude requiring so much respiratory support, the image is not near as bad as was seeing him turn blue yesterday!  


We should be getting more labs done in a little bit to check his blood gas and hopefully it will keep going down.  I'll keep everyone updated as much as I can.


Once again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all your prayers!  They are working for sure!