The post that's 3 days late

As usual, I promised an update and then left you hanging. It's becoming my thing now, it would seem. Don't worry, my Dad already scolded me. As I am now a father, I feel even more inclined to do as my own father says, if only in a backhanded attempt to get my son to do as I wish. So far my experiment has yet to yield any measurable results. More tests are needed.

Look at mah face!

On Tuesday we had another care conference. With all of Ezekiel's forward progress since our previous conference, our expectations had gotten a little out of whack. It took a little wind out of our sails, but it was yet another exercise in some good ol' fashioned expectation management. With everything Zeke has overcome it's easy to think "hasn't he done enough? Can't we just take him home?!" Sadly, that's still not going to happen anytime soon, but he's still keeping everyone on their toes and making some awesome progress.

"Stop moping about, old man, and fill everyone in on how awesome I am!" Ezekiel said rudely to his father. Fine, jeez, kids these days have no respect for their elders.

Here are a few things that came out of our conference:

• Zeke is scheduled to have another surgery on Thursday of next week. This surgery is to remove the blockage in his urethra. After doing this surgery, they will clamp the tubes in his kidneys and see if the small amount of urine that they are making will drain through his bladder. If this doesn't happen, he'll need another surgery to address that issue.
• They're starting to go up slowly on the amount of dialysis solution they put in him on each cycle. Part of the reason that he needs dialysis around the clock is because they're using such small amounts of solution. To get him on a regimen that manageable from home, they'll need to increase that fill volume from 25ml to around 200ml. They'll do this slowly because they're very worried that the larger volumes will negatively affect his lung function due to pressure it will put on his diaphragm.
• Orthopedics is supposed to be visiting Ezekiel soon(ish) to start addressing his clubbed feet.

In other news, he got off his sedation medication today! They were keeping him sedated because his lungs couldn't handle him being awake, but that's no longer the case, as evidenced by all the new pictures of him with his eyes open!

Frogs make the best hats.

Now that it's after midnight it is officially the 6th, which was Ezekiel's due date. Happy due date day, little man! I've prepared a happy due date song to sing him when I see him in the morning. I expect him to applaud, which would be the only reasonable reaction.

Until next time,
Caleb