12/30 - On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

...an NJ tube and a round of hemodialysis.  Jim was on the overnight shift, and he gave me the morning update earlier. We've been pretty much doing the every other day thing. Ever since the hospital transfer, that is what seems to work best, although that might change when school and other routine things resume again next week. When we're in opposite places, we are continually communicating with each other. There is always news to share, and it helps us keep everything that is going on straight in our own minds. We don't get a ton of time together, but as things continue to change, we do plan on remedying that.

Back to Sam...there have been lots of good things happening overnight.  According to Jim:

• he's been pulling off plenty of fluids on his own, and they are confident that his kidneys will completely heal themselves.
• Until that point, they don't want his numbers to get too high. (Creatinine, I believe.) Because of that, they will do 2 rounds of hemodialysis, one today and one tomorrow.
• The NJ tube is for feeding.  He has some pancreatitis, so they're bypassing it to give it some rest. I'm venturing a guess that pancreas was just jealous of all of the attention the other organs were getting, so it decided to get in on the action.  At last check, he was being taken to radiology so that they could place it correctly.   
• His lung X-ray looks better, and his other numbers (BP, temp) were good through the night.

Now for the "biggie" as Jim called it...It looks like he will be getting his bone flap--the portion of skull removed during the original surgery--sometime next week!  There is still some swelling, but according to what Jim was told, they can help relax the tissue and put in a drain to aid the healing process. This is exciting and scary, but so much of this journey has been exactly that. We continue to thrive on the positives, and weather the challenges.

One other piece of good news came while they were suctioning him this morning.  He moved his left arm. We have not seen that since right after his surgery, and we are hoping this is a very good sign of things to come. 

Please keep those prayers going--not that you need that request.  You are amazing with the relentless prayer!  We could not do this without you, and we are grateful for your support. Today's specific prayers include:

• a successful and uneventful placment of the NJ tube AND hemodialysis session today.
• continued baby steps forward in recovery.
• comfort and peace for Jimmy's mom, and his wife, Stacie as they mourn his passing.
• comfort for little Kylā as she goes through treatment here.
• a friend of mine who, with several others, escaped a house fire unharmed, and for peace during this time of putting the pieces back together.

Today's picture is from happier, more carefree times, as we feel we are headed in that direction, at least at this moment. It was taken at Seaworld, I believe in 2007.