Tears and Trials Continue

Dear Friends,

I just want to update you on what we know about Jayden. It's been a tough road with hard news over the last week. On Christmas Day, we were told that Jayden has 2 holes in his heart. There has been some questions as to whether or not he will need surgery. At first we were told the holes would close by themselves; then we were told they wouldn't. Yesterday we were told again that he probably wouldn't need surgery. Time will tell, but we are praying the holes will begin to close by themselves.

In addition, the doctors have still been looking for why Jayden continues to have trouble with his feedings. They thought he might have a fistula --- a canal connecting the esaphagus (not sure about all these medical spellings) and trachea, which often causes feeding problems in preemies. In order to check for this condition, the doctors had to give Jayden a broncoscopy, inserting a scope into his windpipe through the nose. During this procedure, there were complications when Jayden's trachea collapsed and they had to insert an air tube and put him on the ventilator.

Although that was  setback, the amazing thing is that we now know what he has been having the episodes where his heartrate and oxygen saturation go down. He has a condition called tracheamalatia ---- where the trachea is flat rather than round, not allowing air to move through as it should. 

Due to all this new information, the way they are treating Jayden is different. He has been on a medication that is a paralizer so he will stay still and continue to breathe with the help of the ventilator. Today they finished the procedure, going down deeper into the trachea through the air tube.  We were relieved he made it through the procedure without dropping his oxygen levels even once. Thankfully, they didn't find the fistula, so that is one problem we can rule out! 

With everything they have been finding out, they also did some extra tests on him and found that his blood pressure to his lungs is very high. He is on medication for that, and we are thankful that he has had no damage to the heart so far. We are praying they can control it through medication at this point until they find out what is causing it and are able to correct it.

Tomorrow they will begin to take Jayden off the paralyzing medicine and allow him to wake up. Please pray for him as he wakes up; we aren't sure how he will respond. The doctors say his in critical condition right now, and they are surprised he has been able to breathe on his own or with a 2 nasal cannula for so long. He shouldn't have been able to do that with his trachea condition. We know the Lord has been answering prayer and has preserved Jayden's life. 

Gerson and I are feeling pretty weary --- physically and emotionally. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to travel to the hospital, give consents for procedures, wait from afar for phone calls from doctors, etc. 

In addition, my maternal grandma passed away on Tuesday and we are traveling to Illinois tomorrow for the viewing. The funeral will be on Saturday.  I praise the Lord that Grandma knew Him and that she has been reunited with Grandpa. However, we will miss her. Pray that the funeral will be an amazing testimony of  a life lived for Jesus.