Day +4.....time for a morphine drip

Good afternoon :) Today has been a rough day. Dylan did not sleep very much last night, but was able to get a couple straight hours of rest this morning along with mommy!! He is in a lot of pain. His little body is hurting him on the inside and it's so hard to tell what is wrong. He just whimpers, grunts, and cries...a cry that is almost unbearable to hear. BUT, there is a solution!! Morphine to the rescue!! He has been getting Morphine almost around the clock, so the Doc has decided to put him on a constant drip. It is a very small dose, but it is constant, so it should help keep his pain under control. If he is having a bad hour, he can get an additional dose to combat the pain. He continues to have thick mucous in his mouth and has not been coughing it up like before. Now we have to go in after it with the "sucker" (that's the technical term). Needless to say, he does not enjoy the sucker and fights it with all the energy he has. He is now hooked up to a pulse-ox machine constantly for monitoring(it is machine that monitors the oxygen in his body and his pulse). His breathing is affected by the mucous and we do not want the mucous to completely block his airway, so they have to monitor him closely. With the pulse-ox machine, Dylan is now connected to 11 cords!! Yes 11!! And that may not be the max. I will take a picture of the IV pole to show you guys on the next blog. It's amazing to me that all of those medicines and antibiotics are all working together to make his body better. It is an organized mess that comes with him anywhere we move. We call the IV pole his "friend". A friend that is always there, helping him sustain life. It also has all sorts of lights and glows beautifully in the dark so Dylan likes it! He is always mesmerised by it.

For now, Dylan is not eating anymore. He hardly even wants his binky. Along with the sores in his throat, his tongue is swollen, so it is hard for him to suck on anything. Every once in a while, he still tries to stick his hand in his mouth. He has been sleeping on and off for most of the day. He woke up a few times, but because of the morphine, he was still a little groggy. In the pictures above, you can see that his left cheek and eye are both really red and swollen. He has been rubbing his eye and cheek incessantly and it has caused a rash. We have been putting ointment on it every couple of hours, but it will not heal because his counts are so low. Please pray that his skin does not break on his cheek. His eyelid is already scraped up and will take a long time to heal. His hair looks like it is going to start coming out soon. Little hairs come out every time I comb my fingers through it.....but it's ok....he will grow it back and in the meantime, he will be sporting a cute bald head. Usually the eyelashes and eyebrows come out also, so we will see what happens. His little baby bum is still rash free!! Praise God!! We are sooooo thankful for this and we continue to pray that he can avoid this painful side effect!! The Doc said that the side effects should come to their peaks in the next few days and then we will start to see him getting better from there...we just have to make it through the weekend!

We got some really great news today!! My sister-in-law,Karyna, is going to be joining us next week!! WOOOOOOOO HOOOOO!!! We are sooooooo excited!! Now I will have a companion to talk to and hang out with and might be able to get a litte more rest :) She has such a servant's heart and we are blessed to have her help us out!!

Please continue to pray that the donor cells start to work with Dylan's body quickly and that they "get along" well!! After the cells start to engraft, then his body will start to make it's own blood products and he won't need as many transfusions. One little boy who is 14 months old is going home tomorrow and he is at day +21....so we are hoping and praying for the same type of recovery!! Or faster!! NOTHING is impossible with God!! We will not be able to go home-home, but at least to get out of the hospital :)
Well, I think that is all for now...I will leave you with the promises that God gives us in His Word....they help get us through every moment...and Erik's grandma was kind enough to write them out for us :)

I WILL...be your God
I WILL...love you
I WILL...rejoice over you
I WILL NOT...remember your sins
I WILL...pardon you, I WILL save you
I WILL NOT...forget you
I WILL...strengthen you
I WILL...bless you
I WILL...uphold you
I WILL...help you
I WILL...carry you
I WILL...hold your hand
I WILL...go before you
I WILL...go WITH you
I WILL...lead you, I WILL guide you
I WILL...hear you, I WILL answer you
I WILL...restore health to you, I WILL HEAL YOU!!!

There are many more, but these are promises from God...we hold tight to these promises.

Walking by Faith,
Michelle, Erik & Baby Dylan