Playing the odds

With great risk comes great reward.  Today we faced, by far, one of the most difficult decisions a parent will ever have to make.  Alli's condition has been progressively deteriorating over the course of the week.  Nothing has been working.  So, today they presented us with our final option, a bronchoscopy.  A bronchoscopy is basically a deep cleaning from the inside of her lungs.  They put a scope in her breathing tube that has suction attached to it and they insert it in to the lungs and attempt to break up secretions.  There was a good chance, based on Alli's status immediately prior to the procedure, that she wouldn't tolerate it and we would be out of options at that point.  We decided to move forward, as we wanted to buy her as much time as possible to get over her various viruses and infections, and it was becoming clear that there was little else they could do outside of this.  Fortunately, Alli got through the procedure, they were able to clean a good amount of secretions out of her lungs, and her vital signs have shown great improvement.  For right now she is back on the conventional ventilator and tolerating it better than she had been previously.  Hopefully this progress continues through the weekend.

My doctor appointment went well.  There are currently no signs of imminent labor.  So, it seems as though our little guy is staying put for the time being and will make his appearance as scheduled next Friday.  They have told us they can be flexible with timing if necessary.  Our doctor is on call all weekend, so he can do the c-section at any time.  For right now, we are sticking with our original plan.

Samantha's parent teacher conference went well.  She is described as a leader in her classroom and enjoys helping her classmates when appropriate.  She does various kinds of work throughout the day.  According to Miss Chandra, she enjoys the practical life activities in addition to the ones she tells us about - the pink tower, brown stair, and cylinder blocks.  They are working with her on tracing sandpaper letters and she has expressed an interest in learning how to tie.  So, they are working with her on the early steps of how to tie a bow.  All in all, a good report.

We'll continue to keep you updated on the latest as we are able.  Thank you for all of the prayers for Alli.  I am hopeful that she cleared a hurdle today and that we will keep moving forward.

Goodnight!