Two Weeks Since Fevers Started

Summary of Praises

• Daniel is recovering well after the hip joint drainage surgery.
• During the surgery, the surgeon saw that the infected puss was not in the joint itself, but actually encapsulated in the muscle around the joint. So he cleaned that out, but also cleaned out the joint anyways. Infection in the muscle is better than infection in the joint.
• Results from a 3-phase bone scan show that Daniel's bones are all looking good and not infected.
• We got a single room after only one day in a double room. The single room is so much more spacious and convenient.

Other Details
Monday night after the surgery, Daniel slept better than expected with just some regular doses of Tylenol. He only woke up a couple of times. The following day (Tuesday) was busy. Two more blood draws to do a peak/trough check of the vancomycin dosage in his system. And a 3-phase bone scan which involved injection of radioactive fluid (which is all pee'd out later), and a sedative to help him sleep through a couple of the scans. Praise the Lord Daniel was very cooperative and slept through the bone scans as we had hoped for. After the scans he had a couple of visitors for whom he stayed up and entertained by showing them how he can now sit up on his own. Daniel has not been able to support himself sitting since about two weeks ago when the fevers started so we were very excited for this new progress. Later that night we were back to what seemed like fevers and achy whimpering. He may be feeling the pain from the surgery or sometimes feeling the fevers coming on. None of us slept well last night but Daniel was able to catch a good nap late this morning so he stayed up for a bit with visitors in the afternoon.

Thank you for those who've been praying that we can move into a single room. It turns out to be a bigger deal for Daniel than just so we can have more privacy. Daniel used to feel better when we take him out for a stroll. But with his current condition and the number of bugs out and about, especially in a crowded city and in the hospital, the doctor had recommended that we try not to take him out of his room for now so he doesn't catch something else. The new room we're in is big and spacious and we're able to put him in a wheel chair and push him around the room so he's not stuck in bed all day.

We're thankful that the terrible cough he had after the surgery as mentioned in the last post has not returned. Also I have to make a point that it was with a lot of prayer in the recovery room and oxygen and water mist and eventually some sedatives that he finally stopped from 30 minutes of continuous coughing. Sam was not in the room at first, so he didn't see the full coughing fit that worried even the surgeon and the anesthesiologist.

Daniel's doctor had  previously told us that it would take about 4-6 weeks to treat Daniel's condition. We're not sure if the surgery result will change this estimated time of recovery because his joint was not infected. The next thing for us to tackle tomorrow will be the pneumonia in Daniel's lungs. The doctors will need to decide if they can just tap the fluid out of daniel's lungs or if they need to do a minor surgery to remove the excess fluid.

Please don't be sad or anxious for us but continue to lift us up in prayer and give God thanks and praise. We truly do feel a peace that we can't explain. Some of you must have been seriously praying Philippians 4:6-8 over us because rather than being anxious right now, we are extremely touched by the work God is doing with this situation. We are confident that Daniel is God's child and He has great things planned for him, and each one of us will come out of this much stronger than before. We're also reassured by how knowledgeable and experienced the medical staff here is with Daniel's condition. Yes, we may be exhausted at times and even cranky (me) because of lack of sleep sometimes, but we feel extremely blessed being where we are right now.

Lastly, Daniel's first birthday was on March 22nd, he had fevers all day that day so we've postponed the celebrations. I think for his birthday present, we'd like a miraculous recovery that will allow us to return to Seattle by the weekend of April 13th. ;)
 
Pictures
This picture was taken Monday night after the pediatric orthopedic surgeon drew out some ugly infected fluid with a big fat needle from Daniel's right hip joint area. The nurse then got Daniel dressed for the emergency surgery.

These pictures were taken today around noon, approximately 36 hours after the surgery was done. Daniel was happy to be able to sit on his own again when he's feeling well.