Numbers

Heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, lactate, urine output, saturation levels, nitrogen and oxygen levels. So many numbers that tell us how Caleb is doing. Managing his treatment is simply trying to make all the numbers be what they are supposed to be at the same time.

Today his heart is in the 150's. Check. His blood pressure looks good. Check. His lactates fluctuate a little but they've been good. Check. His saturation level is doing great. Check. Today is the first day that Dr. Bolivar admits that Caleb's getting better. He has been wisely cautious the last couple days. They have stopped the medication that "paralyzes" him. (Norcuron?) He might start waking up a bit, although he'll still be sedated. We hope he opens his eyes! They are also weaning him down to a lower dose of Epinephrin.

For awhile this morning I put some headphones close to Caleb's ear so he could listen to some Christian music.

We don't take anything for granted. We know that he could get worse. We know that they may not be able to get him off all of the medicine and that the worst case is that he may have to have another surgery to correct his pulmonary blood flow. That would break our hearts. (Assuming they can be broken any more!) But we also know that God is here!

Numbers. Let me share with you the best numbrs of all: 41, 1, 2, and 3 - as in Psalm 41:1-3.

"...The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive And he will be blessed on the earth. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness. You will sustain him on his sickbed."