More on Isaac

Blessing of the day: Janel's mom came in yesterday and took care of the kids so I could spend much of the day with Janel and Isaac. I was there from about 9:00 this morning until 3:00 this afternoon. Mary, Joshua, Jenna, and I all went back this evening after dinner for about an hour. (Incidentally, the evening meal was some amazing taco soup from our friends, the Ashenbrenner's!)

Isaac is in stable condition, is off all IV fluids; continues antibiotics for now; and is on oxygen to maintain his blood oxygen saturation. The following scenario typifies the roller coaster of emotions that has become so familiar during these hospital stays.

At about 11:00 this morning the doctor came in to check on Isaac. She looked him over, listened to his lungs, asked a few questions, and then gave us an optimistic report. She noted the relatively small quantity of oxygen that Isaac was on, speculated that he could be weaned from the oxygen today, and then if all the cultures came back negative tomorrow morning, he could come home. That sounded nice, and our hopes were riding high.

About an hour after the doctor left, a new nurse came into the room, and mentioned that the doctor gave orders to begin weaning Isaac off oxygen. She did an assessment of Isaac and observed he was breathing with some difficulty. Then she increased his oxygen. That was not so fun, and we rode down the little roller coaster hill.

Of course, this is all familiar territory. We traversed the exact same path with Joshua and Jenna. Our prayer continues to be that Isaac would be restored to full health as soon as possible. We really don't know when he'll come home. Because of his continued dependence on the oxygen, it seems unlikely that he would be discharged tomorrow, maybe Monday???

If you're the praying kind, we'd covet your prayers for Isaac's health, for strength and stamina for Janel, and for patience for us all.

[phone rings...it's Janel]

They just decreased Isaac's oxygen. And so Janel is stuck staring at a monitor to see how he'll maintain. Here's to hoping...