It has been six days since Faith’s last surgery. Her heart appears to be doing well, but her lungs are still very sick. She has developed the same bacteria’s in her trachea that were there before the last surgery. The doctors have been working aggressively to treat it, but that has required a substantial amount of fluids.

This has made it difficult to heal the other damages to her lungs. In order to help with some lung recovery, her chest has been left open, and she has a patch holding it together. The idea is to allow her heart and lungs more room to work under less stress.

Some good news is that the secretions in her lungs that were once bloody have been clearing up. Unfortunately at this point, there are so many other things going on. It is like a vicious circle. She needs the oxygen, but at the same time it can cause more damage. The doctors are working really hard to balance everything, but it is going to be a long process. It could easily be another month that she is here, but there is no way to tell at this point.

Faith’s heart has been doing better. Her blood pressures have been more consistent, and the rhythm has been perfect. She hasn’t needed the pacemaker at all. The only time that her heart has been wacky is when she has a fever. Once her temperature gets to 99.5 degrees, her heart rate goes up and blood pressure drops. Since they have been treating the infection, that hasn’t been an issue. As of now, she is on four different medications to treat all different types of infections. Once they close her chest, they’ll be able to discontinue some of the antibiotics.

The plan right now is to go slow. They are working to get as much fluid off as possible. This will hopefully help her lungs enough that they can decrease the amount of air pressure needed to oxygenate her lungs. Once the pressure is low enough, they will close her chest. From there, they can look at a number of different options that aren’t available to someone with an open chest.

As this continues, we ask that everyone continue to pray. The fact that she made it out of the surgery so well is only by God, and Nell and I are asking Him for more miracles. We are both anxious for her to get better, but right now there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. The both of us believe that God is going to do something awesome. All through the pregnancy and up to this point, we have told Faith that God has something awesome in store for her. Now is just the start.