October 9-12, 2009

Here we go again, leaving you all hanging for days. We've had a couple of busy days and just haven't put the time into sitting down and updating you all. Our apologies for that.

I'm happy to announce Gabe's UTI is finally gone, and he seems to be returning to the happier little guy we had become accustomed to before this evil UTI took him over. In the last few days Gabe has had his usual ups and downs of numbers being off here and there, and the vent needing to be adjusted, sometimes several times a day, but for the most part it was a pretty uneventful weekend for Bubba. They have already gone up on the Octreotide (medication we are hoping will heal the Chylothorax) several times, becuase so far it has not made a difference, and Gabe continues to put out rather large amounts of fluid from his chest tubes. We are praying this medication starts working soon.

We are going to sit down with one of Gabe's doctors next week for a serious chat about where we go from here if the Octreotide doesn't work. Does he think with time Gabe can heal on his own? The scarriest part of this whole "adventure" is no one can say for sure what the outcome is going to be. We know that Gabe is a fighter, he has most certainly proven that, but if this Chylothorax does not heal, it's not something you can live with. The other big question we have is about his lungs. They have been compromised by the pleural effusions (fluid around his lungs) and his thick edenemous chest walls for so long that they have not been able to grow into healthy fully functioning lungs. Also, being on a vent for almost 15 weeks, and who knows how many more, causes damage too. It breaks my heart to think about these things and I try to just enjoy my son and not worry to much about the things I have no control over, but they are always in the back of my mind. I can't imagine life without my Bubba, but I know we are still not in the clear. I hope and pray that Gabe will continue to fight, and that with time his body will heal and we will be able to get him out of that NICU and home with us, where he belongs.

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers. We are blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives.