{Day 4}

We are on day 4 in the ICU at Texas Children's Hospital. We met with his doctors this morning and here is a summary of his current condition:

• Test results confirmed that Ben has both a bacterial and viral infection -- this is the reason he is so very sick
• He tested positive for RSV
• X-ray shows he does have bacterial pneumonia
• Latest chest x-ray still shows large volumes of thick mucus/secretions which is causing the breathing problems
• Doctors started IPV treatments yesterday to help break up the mucus -- they are working, just very, very slow
• Doctors are weening his rate on the ventilator (he was at 26 on Monday, 24 on Tuesday and bringing it to 20 today) -- this helps him breathe more on his own (still supported by the machine) and so he won't be too dependent on the ventilator when he is ready to be off
• He still has "brady" episodes due to coughing and when doctors or nurses handle him -- his heart rate and oxygen levels decrease rapidly but they quickly bag him and bring back up his stats
• He is tolerating his feeds well through his feeding tube and they are slowly increasing them. They have fortified my breast milk with several things to make sure he is getting what he needs to heal
• He is still swollen a bit but getting better and also getting help from dieuretics

It seems we still have several more days, if not more, here in the ICU. Chat and I are doing well and spending most of our time by his bedside. We are hoping in the next day or two we get a opportunity to hold him. The bottom line is that Ben needs time to heal and he is setting the pace.