More Good News

Hi Again

Daniel T has been doing well again and still. He now breathing on his own and has only has his oxygen tube/Canula nose piece to help with his oxygen levels. You know the kind that you usually see older people wearing. So as far as todays/this weeks post goes “no news is good news”.

After his episode with his looped bowel the staff was able to reduce his swelling and have been watching him close. So far no more signs of swelling and they are slowly increasing the amount of his mothers milk feedings so we can get him ready for his real birthday.

Thank you again for all of your fasting and prayers.

Since most of his tubes are gone, be sure to view the attached images because you can now see his cute little face.

Mr. Feisty

Greetings

Happy 2 month birthday Daniel. On the 21 st of March Daniel had his 2 month birthday and is officially 32 weeks old. He only has 6 more weeks for his “real” birthday and I think he is looking forward to it.

Daniel T continues to do well and is slowing growing and gaining weight. As of today his weight is 3 pounds 14 ounces and he is over 14 inches long. Go! Daniel Go!

There has been one area of concern that arose last week when they discovered that he had a “looped bowel”. That is when a section of the small intestine swells or is inflamed an builds up pressure (gas) and pushes on the other organs. They felt it was because they have been feeding him more of his mother milk and his digestive track could not handle it all. They inserted a suction tube in his stomach to relieve the pressure and cut back on the amount of milk. Within a couple of days the swelling had gone down and they are now slowly increasing his feeding.

Once again the fasting and prayers of family and friends helped Daniel and his parents through this “hiccup” in his progress.

One word that we feel best describes Daniel is “feisty”. When I updated you last I told you that Daniel had pulled out his velilator tube and received a CPAP mask to help in his breathing. They first put on a CPAP mask similar to an oxygen mask and Daniel must not have liked it because he kept pushing it of to the side of his face where it wasn’t doing him any good. The next mask has short tubes that actually are inserted into his nose so you cannot push it off as easy. I have affectionately call it his Darth Vader mask (Click this link for breathing sound http://www.myteambuilder.biz/dtm-images/breathe.wav ) . The next step is to wean him off the CPAP and get him breathing on his own.

Here are some recent images and as you can tell even the grandmothers got to hold him.

Go Daniel

Daniel T has had a great week.

This past week we received word that the medications for his pneumonia have been working better than expected and his x-rays show a dramatic improvement. Good boy Daniel T.

The most significant thing is that on Monday after discussions by the medical staff they agreed that the was ready to change ventilators to one that allows him to breath more on his own. He must have been listening because on Tuesday morning he reached up and pulled his breathing tube right out. Since he was so determined to breathe on his own they let him try it for a while and as expected he was not quite ready. They inserted another breathing tube connected to new ventilator and out of 40 breaths a minute he was taking 30 on his own. Because he had done so well all day when Tracy and Tim came to visit they were able to hold him for the very first time. (see images below)

As of the writing of this update Daniel continues to improve and has graduated from the ventilator to a CPAP machine. Yes you read right, a CPAP just like the one great grandpa uses when he sleeps at night (of course it is a very small cpap).

Oh one more thing before I go. Wednesday after noon Daniel must have also been tired of his feeding tube because he once again just like the breathing tube he reached up and pulled it out. The nurse said that was ok because she needed to get him a new one but, when she tried to insert the new tube Daniel clamped his gums together and wouldn’t let her insert it. (I wonder who the boy takes after???)

This Weeks Update

Before I go any further with my comments and postings I need to make a disclaimer. The disclaimer is this: The format and grammar of the postings and comments on this blog are based upon my experience of short-handing paragraphs and sentences on engineering drawings and may not follow accepted and “proper” American Dialect. In other words you get what you get.

Ok with that out of the way let me get you up to date on Daniel T.

He has had another good week and continues to grow. He is now at 3 pounds 4 ounces and is 14 inches long. The antibiotic treatments he is having for his pneumonia are slowly working and the staff is doing their best to make sure his lungs continue to develop.

Here are some images of his cute little face and him trying to suck on his binky with his ventilator tube still inserted and saying Hi to all you all..

Thank you again for all your prayers, fasting and faith. We know it is why he is doing so well and why we have received so many tender mercies from the Lord.