Hope

Things are calm today in Boston but in Blake's room they are moving! Blake is really amazing and we are so proud and in awe of how well he has done.

He still has his chest tubes in because once they removed his LA line there was some bleeding and additional drainage. It looks like those will come out tomorrow. He was able to "sprint" on the ventilator for two hours last night. Sprinting means they turn down the pressure that forces him to breathe but push in CO2 so his brain knows to take breaths and he did great. There was a decision made today to leave his ventilator in until tomorrow to ensure all the fluid is off his lungs and chest and to avoid an additional step down. The goal would be tomorrow he would be able to breath fully on his own. We do see him taking some breaths on his own above the ventilator now. Please pray this delicate process goes smoothly for him as it is a leap forward.

They are moving him from Pediatlyte to Pediasure so he is getting more calories and more nutrition. They are also going to start to remove him from the Morphine and lighten his sedation as they move towards removing his ventilator. He is moving more and is responsive with head nods when you ask him some questions. They describe that he is basically in a twilight state now so he hears us but isn't really aware of what is going on (which for now is better for him). He moves the most when he hears Aidan and Riley's voices!

The best news we received this morning is that there is in fact still some hope he won't need the pacemaker!!!! They check by basically turning down or turning off the external pacemaker he has now to see how his own heart recovers and conducts on his own. It was still very low or not at all yesterday morning and into the afternoon but last night it was much better and was even better this morning!!  It isn't definite but I was SO happy to get some hope that he will fully recover without the pacemaker. The thought that Blake could go from a heart with multiple major defects and a left side that essentially didn't work to a repaired heart with no defects and works fully on its own feels like a miracle. Please pray that his heart continues to strengthen and conduct on its own!