COTA for Jacob's Hope

Monday is complete, and we are breathing a huge sigh of relief. First, the big news: Jake successfully completed his 3-week post-transplant Cath! The preliminary pressures look exactly as expected, and praise God, no new clots were found. We are expecting the preliminary biopsy results tomorrow, but we are feeling very hopeful.

Today wasn’t without its challenges, though. Because he had to lay flat for the procedure, and be somewhat sedated, his left lower lung was having a little trouble fully inflating. To help with this, the team switched him to a CPAP for the day. To be honest, Jake doesn’t love it, but we know it’s necessary to get those lungs expanded. We also realized that pain was playing a role in his not taking deep breaths. The team did some pain management adjustments and it seems to be helping with the pain much better, allowing him to breathe deeper and move more.

And speaking of moving, even with the pain, Jake was moving forward today. He has been disconnected from his last IV line. FREEDOM! He has been moved to a room on the “edge” of the ICU, marking a literal step toward graduating from it. Best of all, he actually WALKED to the bathroom three times today! At one point, he stood up simply because he wanted to stand. That is a massive improvement in his strength and a show of his determination to get better.

In other big news, he was also able to chew and swallow ice chips today! This is a huge first step toward real food as he was not able to do this yesterday. (He is currently feeding through an ng tube in his nose). We did consult with Endocrine today as well. Jake has been started on insulin. This is very common after a surgery like his, and it will hopefully only be needed short-term as his body adjusts to the NG feeds and new steroids and meds needed for rejection.

We are reminding ourselves today that this new stage of recovery can be trying. It is filled with big leaps forward, like walking to the bathroom and disconnecting the last IV med, but these often come with small steps back and new hurdles. Not every day can be filled with wins, but even when he steps back, he is still making huge progress. We are keeping our eyes fixed on the day he can walk out of this hospital and ring that discharge bell. And while this journey takes a toll, we know we are not alone. Thank you! Thank you for your continued encouragement and for lifting us up in prayer. We truly could not survive this journey without you.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31