Steps in the right direction

Jadon's left diaphragm was plicated on Thursday, late afternoon.  His chest x-ray immediately showed a much larger and fuller left lung, as there is more place for that lung to inflate.  His right lung however was still mostly a white-out (not much sign of air entry).

Over night on Thursday and early Friday, Jadon started retaining more water again.  He was noticeably more swollen on Friday morning and his belly was very inflated.  The aim is to get Jadon off the ventilator as soon as possible.  To do that, his lung inflation needs to be at optimum.  The fluid in the abdominal cavity hinders proper lung inflation.  Over the day Friday and today, the doctors have been aggressive in Jadon's diuresis (reducing fluids).  He has lost much volume (to the point he looks overly thin) but his lung inflation is much better.  His chest x-ray this morning showed a decent amount of air entry into his right lung - likely the best x-ray he's had in weeks!  They are continuously decreasing the ventilator settings as much as Jadon can tolerate.  The goal is to extubate him tomorrow.  We are very excited and are hopeful that all will go well and that Jadon will successfully tolerate the extubation.

Just in case we weren't busy enough... we have something brewing on the home front.  Logan had been commenting occaisionally about a sore right arm that seemed a little bit swollen for several days.  It became quite tender on Thursday and Friday he woke up with a large splotchy rash on his right arm and hand.  That's right... shingles!  So he has been in a lot of pain and discomfort over the last few days.  The doctor said it should hopefully clear up within about a week and we are praying it does!
Logan commented "During Christmas Holidays, I got hand, foot and mouth disease - that's an illness babies and little kids get.  Now over March Break I get shingles - that's an illness older people get!"