B as of Thursda night...

The latest updates...

August 15
Talked to D tonight--B is still stable, which is good. However, he had an ultrasound and xray this morning and it revealed a pouch of fluid near his spleen and one near his bladder. The spleen one has been there before, the bladder one is new. They will sedate him tomorrow and go in with a needle to remove the fluid. They will test it, as always, to see if it has bacteria in it and if so, they continue more antibiotics. They will also adjust the drains that are already in his abdomen. Usually the fluid is bile and blood.

The good news about going in this time is that B's blood pressure and heart rate have gone down close to normal and his temp is only around 100. In the past, his rates have been really high and he's had one with a high fever too. This will be the fourth time they go in to remove fluid and the 6th time he has gone under anesthesia since after the first procedure. Goodness-poor little guy!!

D has been a bit down and had a rough time just being on the phone--we all know it's hard to just keep saying the same things over and over. C called Jonathan and said that one of the nurses said that B is getting better. That was good to hear.

Amy and I will go down there tomorrow between 9-10pm and stay until 5:30-5:45am so D and C can get sleep again. I know they didn't get much last night between xrays and ultrasounds. And I'm sure they won't get any tomorrow during the day since B will be having his procedure.

August 16
B is kinda still stable. He had two more drains put in yesterday and had some fluid removed, so he went under anesthesia and that always seems to set him back a bit. But he did pass some bile and bowel stuff out and that is a first since he's been in. Again, he had a really sweet nurse last night--that always makes a difference.

He is off morphine and on methadone to help him control the pain while getting off the morphine. He is more awake at times, but this is hard b/c he is still on the ventilator and when he is awake, he gags on it, wanting it out. They were hoping to get it out soon. They tried once yesterday but he wasn't ready.

He loved when we read to him--it brought his heartrate down and he looked at the pages. I'd ask if he wanted another story and he'd nod yes. He pointed toward the end of the visit which was a good sign. He's still very critical, but somewhat stable. Apparently during the day yesterday after the procedure was worse, but things had calmed down when we got there last night.