Three less tubes

Good news, everyone! (If you read this first line as if it were spoken by Professor Farnsworth, you win a prize)

Young Mr. Ezekiel has made some amazing strides in the last two days. His lungs have made marked progress both days which has elicited some surprised reactions. Several of his doctors have commented that his oscillator and oxygen settings look better than they should, and that he is not at all where they were expecting him to be. Just two days ago he was getting 70% oxygen, and today he's at 26%. This is huge because the regular air we all breathe every day is only 21% oxygen. Don't worry, I just learned that too. The next step is to wean some of the settings on his oscillator so they can get him down to a regular ventilator. Once he's on a ventilator, Jenny and I may finally be able to hold him for the first time. This is another milestone that we cannot wait for.

Who gets to hold him first? I say we arm wrestle for it.

Another exciting thing happened today, Ezekiel had both of his chest tubes removed! These were placed shortly after birth to remove excess air from his chest cavity that had leaked from holes in his lungs. His lungs have since closed those holes and the chest tubes are no longer necessary. They also removed the arterial catheter from his foot since they need to draw blood less frequently. Hurray for less man made holes in his body!

There has also been a lot of discussion on when and how to be using his brand new dialysis catheter. He actually has standing fluid in his stomach cavity and they're able to drain small amounts of said fluid using the catheter. They have to be careful though, because if they take too much at one time, it can drop his blood pressure which we all learned the hard way.

Zeke is also at a serious risk of infection, due to all the aforementioned man made holes in his body. We've been advised to restrict visitors and now wear masks some of the time while in his room. This is a bummer because we love showing him off, but we will do what we have to to keep this little guy safe. A doctor from infectious diseases visited yesterday and it appeared as though Ezekiel's reputation preceded him. That doctor said that he'd heard Zeke was "one tough SOB". Jenny didn't seem to understand that she'd just been insulted.

Coming to a theater near you! (Thanks for the pic, Jillian)

Tonight Jenny and I left the hospital for the first time in over a week and are spending the night at home. As awesome as it is to have the option to stay at the hospital, those sleep rooms have a twin bed, so we're excited to sleep like grown ups again.

Thanks again for reading and for caring!
Caleb