The Bionic Child . . .

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding
In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path"

Proverbs 3; 6 - 6

Ever since Laura's surgery was first described to us, I have pictured Steve Austin the Bionic man. I have repeatedly heard the narrator's commentary during the open sequence. He would generally say something like "We can rebuild him. We can make him faster, and stronger. We have the technology."

After seeing Laura yesterday with all of the tubes in her, that thought has been nothing but more prevalent. However, today they started removing those tubes. She still has many of them, but having two or three less makes it seem like she is almost back to normal. She still has many tubes in her (mostly to drain fluids that the body might excrete as a result of her surgery), but they continue to come out. The doctors think that they might transfer Laura from the C.V.I.C.U. tomorrow to the normal recovery floor.

What is really cool, is that she is already moving and squirming and wiggling like she was before the surgery. She actually started yesterday evening. The doctors are very impressed and proud of how quickly she is bouncing back. All I can say to this is, God is awesome.

Tara and I are very excited about this. You see we were worried that because of some unknown factor (bad reaction to a drug, defective bypass) that she might suffer brain damage, or some other set back, that would change her very sweet but inquisitive personality. That does not seem to be the case. Laura is responding to our voices and is trying to interact with her immediate environment. For those of you that have met Laura, you know that means that it will not be long before she figures out how to pull some of those tubes out herself. She is even making her normal noises. Her voice sounds a little horse, but that is not unexpected.

She once again has an N.G. tube for feeding. However, this will not be a permanent thing. We are anxious to be able to start bottle feeding her, so we can get rid of that thing. The C.V.I.C.U. doctors have taken her off of Morphine and put her on a different pain medication. It is not as strong as morphine, but it will be as tough on her stomach. They have also restarted her on the heart medications she was on before her surgery. They want to keep her lungs dry, and decrease her blood pressure so her heart will not have to work as hard. They have also started her on a kidney medication, to help her body naturally drain any excess fluids.

Overall, things continue to progress at a very good pace. I am hoping we will be able to bring Laura home Monday afternoon or evening.