Update

Hey y'all. I realized it's been a few days since I've posted anything here; time is going by SO quickly, and I am SO exhausted. I think about posting something, but then I find a way to summarize it into 140 characters or less on Twitter! Oh well...

Ethan is doing well. He came through surgery like a champ and was extubated early yesterday morning. Things had been pretty uneventful over the past 2 days, and the plan was to move him out of ICU sometime today. However, last night he started to have some trouble breathing and spiked a pretty high fever. The ICU fellow called us around 3:00 a.m. to tell us that Ethan was going on nasal CPAP, with the possibility of being re-intubated. We prayed hard that he could avoid that, and he did! He came off of CPAP around noon and is now sporting a high-flow nasal canula. This is providing a pretty good amount of oxygen, which is what he seems to need right now. He is breathing MUCH easier and just looks way more comfortable than he did yesterday.

We found out about his fever when we called to check-in around 6:00 this morning; it had spiked not long before we called. Blood was drawn and sent to the lab to see if anything would grow to suggest infection. His temp hovered around 103-104 for most of the morning, and FINALLY broke around 2:00 this afternoon. As of then, he's been fever-free. Thank you, Lord!

He took a really nice nap this afternoon, and was drifting off to dreamland when Jeramie and I left tonight. Please continue to pray that his temperature would remain normal and there would be no signs of infection. Pray that his lungs would strengthen and will be able to tolerate lower amounts of oxygen.

We'll probably be in the ICU for at least one more day/night, if not a little longer. We've learned not to rush him, so we'll just keep on waiting until he's ready.

Thank you for all of the prayers & support y'all have given us this week; we truly appreciate it more than we can say!