Still Critical

Respiratory - Matthew is still critical today. They had to turn up the pressure on the Jet ventilator (which is not a good sign) to help get rid of the elevated carbon dioxide levels in the blood. Whenever they turn up the pressure on the Jet, this means that they are having to do more of the breathing for him as opposed to him doing more of the breathing on his own.

Heart - Since Matthew is so unstable at this time, the doctor's have postponed the surgery to close the PDA until sometime next week. The surgery would add a lot of stress to his body and right now he doesn't tolerate any stresses at all. Matthew was given a blood transfusion yesterday, which he didn't really respond well to so they had to give him another blood transfusion again today. Because he is so ill, his arteries are starting to leak, which now means that his blood pressure is dropping and his heart rate is increasing to try and pump more blood to his body. They hope that with the second blood transfusion, that this will help to stabilize his blood pressure and heart rate.

Brain - Since Matthew's condition has become worse so rapidly, the doctor's were concerned that the bleed in his brain has increased, so they took another ultrasound of his brain. Officially it was stated that it went to a grade 3 bleed, but the doctor showed me the ultrasound results and he and his colleague think that the official report is an overstatement and they actually believe it is still a grade 2 brain bleed. They will continue to monitor the bleed in his brain, especially given his current condition.

New developments - His blood sugar levels were extremely elevated today. They measured him at 588. Acceptable levels are between 80 and 130. So they put him on an insulin drip to bring down his sugar levels. By 1:30 in the morning, they were able to take him off the drip and his sugar levels seem to have become stabilized.

They had to decrease the amount of fluids they were giving him because he is starting to retain fluid. They are even giving him Lasix which is a medication used to help decrease the amount of fluid that is being retained.

His belly is still very black and blue and now he has pitting edema, which means that whenever you touch his skin (like you are poking him) it leaves a depression in his belly. The bruising color and edema (swelling of the tissues due to excessive fluid) is slowly progressing upwards next to his chest cavity, which is also making it more difficult for him to breathe.

He is still on the antibiotics and looks like he will be for the next 7 days. In addition to all this, I've had to file a formal complaint on one of the nurses who is taking care of Matthew. I have requested that she be removed from caring for him. Please pray that God removes her from this case without a lot of complications or animosity between her and us.

Emotionally today I feel very raw and vulnerable. I feel like my endurance, patience and faith are really being tested today. I feel like I don't have the strength to make it through the day but that is when I know God is carrying me and the only set of footprints that can be seen are His. Normally I am the type of person who trys to control or "handle" things on my own, but today I can't do that and that is where God really wants me to be, not "handling" it so He can! I didn't even realize how much I really need to have Jason here with me, so he is taking an earlier flight back tonight and will be home by 1:00 in the morning. This experience is drawing us so much closer together and he has been such an amazing support for me and so loving through this whole traumatic time. I don't wish this kind of pain on anybody, but if God can use this situation for His glory then I pray that He can use us to reach out to others through this.
Thank you again to everybody for all your prayers and support even from those we don't know. It is encouraging to know that there are people who feel led to pray for Matthew and us even though they don't know who we are. May God bless each and every one of you today and always!!!