Recovery - Day 6

Blake is feeling great, he is up and around and more active everyday and his mood is generally great (except when the hoards of doctors descend on him). He did get another chest tube out today (out of his left lung), and the immediate x-ray showed that his lungs are looking great. Unfortunately, the right tube is still draining considerably, so our previous hopes of a Friday release are looking to be more and more remote. The good news is the drainage is still clear (indicating he is not draining fat). They are going to increase his diuretics in order to try and speed up the drying out of his right lung. The waiting for this is really difficult, because otherwise (although his breast plate is still fragile), he is back to his old self so being trapped in a hospital is frustrating to him and he is staring to ask to go home.

Now on to the turn of events that is really difficult to talk about. Blake gets a full blood chemistry every day so the cardiologists can monitor his electrolytes and white blood cell count (which all look good), but over the past three days they have seen two elevated glucose levels (blood sugars) that have caused some suspicion. Because Bryan is a Type 1 (juvenile) diabetic, this history causes some concerns. We got a special consult with the TCH endocrinology team today (ironically this is the same hospital where Bryan was diagnosed at age 10) and we really don't know yet what is going on. On one end of the spectrum, it could be nothing - the fluctuations in sugars could be a result of stress-induced hyperglycemia or this could be really early indication of type 1 diabetes (although this is very young to be diagnosed). We are going to do two things to try and get some answers 1) 48-hour monitoring of glucose levels via normal finger prick 2) full diabetes screening panel, and we will go from there.

It's fair to say I am a bit of a basket case because of the roller coaster of emotions. I felt we had come so far making progress with his heart and I just don't want him to have this additional medical and physical burden in his life. I know Bryan too is scared and is feeling guilty that this is something he could have passed on to him. As a mother it is so hard to be so out of control of the situation; I wish more than anything in the world that I could take these things on for him so that he could be healthy.

We ask for your prayers that this glucose issue will resolve on its own and that Blake's chest will start to cease draining and that we can maintain his good spirits while these issues get sorted out. Thank you.