Plateau

Today was hard for us because there has been no improvement in Peter's chyle leak--in fact, it has gotten worse rather than better over the past couple of days.

We talked to the cardiologist, Dr. Baker, on the phone this morning. He said that he was disappointed to see the chyle leak getting worse. For one thing, Peter will have to remain on the ventilator for much longer than anticipated because the doctors want to be able to put pressure in his lungs to counteract the leak. Instead of being weaned off the ventilator by early this week, Peter will have to remain on the ventilator for several more weeks.

Getting rid of the chylothorax is really the crux of the whole situation. It is creating instability in his cardiovascular system. His heart rate and blood pressure are being affected by the enormous quantities of fluids he loses (though he is given fluids also). In view of these developments, Dr Baker suspects that this will unfortunately be one of those cases where treatment will take a long time (weeks or months rather than the average 10-14 days). All of this is not to say that Peter is rapidly deteriorating or even doing very poorly. He continues to have normal sleep/wake cycles, and enjoys looking at his mobile or sucking on our fingers when awake. He looks at our faces intently when we talk to him. The doctors and nurses keep telling us that there have been patients much weaker with this kind of condition who have made a full recovery. But it is nevertheless discouraging for us to realize that he will almost certainly remain in the hospital into July, possibly beyond.

Finally, we were also told that the CT scan performed on Peter's brain last week did show evidence of a lesion. The doctors do not know whether this means he sustained any brain damage, nor do they know when the lesion occurred (pre-birth, during birth, while on the ECMO), but they can tell it is an old, inactive lesion. It means that Peter will have to be referred to a neurologist at some point and be tested for neurological damage. Since the doctors continue to call his behavior "appropriate" for a child his age, there is good hope that the lesion has had no lasting ill effects.

We would much appreciate your prayers as we contemplate the lessons God is trying to teach us in this. We were fortified by the words of David in Psalm 62 which our friend Jay (an elder in our church) shared with us during a visit today:

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.