Sam's Journey - Day 31

I know you've all been anxiously awaiting the results of the MRI. We're all going to have to keep on waiting, as he will not be having it today. There were just too many other urgent cases that bumped him from the docket. That's great news for him--he's not the most critical! The bad news, should you choose to view it that way, is that we all get to work out our 'patience muscle' a little bit more together. 

Other good news of the day is that Sam has been officially released from the ICU! We loved those people and the care that he received there, but we are thrilled that Sam no longer needs constant monitoring of multiple organ systems. He has been transferred to the pulmonary unit because he's still on the vent...more or less. He's no longer on the big MacDaddy hospital vent, but more of a home version. When he got to this floor, they had to fine tune the settings on it because he was taking more and more of his own breaths. If those settings are successful, they will begin trach collar trials again--meaning no vent. They are going to work up very slowly. The pulmonary attending doc said she prefers to view this as a marathon and has mapped out a training plan for Sam. We're excited to see how he does here. Knowing how well he did last time, we're pretty optimistic about how things will go.

In other news, he is responding more regularly to the command to move his thumb. The progress is slow but steady, and although we would love it if he popped up in the bed and said, "Ta-da!" we know it's all in his time. Since birth, that's how it's been with this one, so we'll just hunker down and wait for him to decide when it's time. (More patience muscle activity.)

And as for the MRI, we are content to have one more day without potential bad news. We fully anticipate some, if not widespread damage. We know that it does not necessarily dictate what he will or will not be able to do for the rest of his life, but we also want to have a realistic idea of what we might looking at. It's just important to us that we keep in mind that the 'might be' does not equate to 'will be.' In the meantime, we will enjoy the new digs (there's a BATHROOM in here!) and continue to watch for new signs of progress in our boy. 

It looks like Sam will have the MRI tomorrow morning around 8am, although we probably won't get the final verdict until Wednesday. We'll let you know where we are every step of the way. Your prayers for continued signs of improvement and healing, and as positive of an MRI as possible are appreciated. Thank you!

I thought this picture was a good reminder that Sam and God are driving this whole thing. This was taken in 2009 (I think?) while we were on vacation at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Joy's in Kentucky.