HOPE

To continue my post I needed to stop and use the above title because HOPE is what got us through all of this.
As I was saying that even though Jacob was stable he was not progressing very much from a respiratory stand point. He remained on the oscillator until the next
Monday. After another rough weekend on Monday morning the PICU doctor and our Pulmonologist came to Mike and I at Jacob's bedside and said that his lungs were looking good and had healed and that everything was looking better but the fact that he was still not oxygenating well at all was very concerning and that they again had done all they could do but now it was up to Jacob. After this news I spent the whole morning crying. I could not understand why. Then that evening the PICU doctor that was on felt that maybe Jacob needed to go back on to the regular ventilator. That night I called home to talk to the girls and I told Mike that they might try the regular vent this evening. I then talked with Katy and as I was trying to find something to encourage us all I remembered my Jacob statue. I love the Willow Tree statues and Mike has slowly bought me pieces that represent each of my children. I thought I remembered that my Jacob statue was holding a balloon sign that said HOPE. I asked Katy to go get it and see if I was right she said yes Mommy it says HOPE! I told her to go and show it to her father and tell him that this is what we will do we will HOPE that this will be the answer for Jacob to make some strides at getting better. That night the doctor did change Jacob over to the conventional ventilator and Jacob did well after his blood gas I called Mike to let him know he was doing better. By Thursday they started waking Jacob up from the medication induced sleep and the plan was to go to the operating room on Monday to remove the tube and if Jacob did well he would be on his road home but if he did not do well they would put in a trache. The pictures of Jacob are on Tuesday morning the day after extubation in the OR. He was transfered to a regualr room that day and came home from the hospital on that Friday February 22. After 23 days our loving Heavenly Father's will was evident and HOPE prevailed and our son came home!!!! He still has a long road of recovery but he is here and we are so very thankful.