wednesday night update

things have been moving along at a quiet, positive pace here with one or two glitches- but nothing major. we pulled the chest tube out yesterday, and got the trach out today, and those were the big hurdles to getting out of the hospital. some cultures from isaiah's trach did come back positive for b. cepacia- which is a newish bacteria that is popping up in hospitals. we don't think it will have any clinical effect on isaiah- but it a pretty dangerous thing- particularly to kids with cystic fibrosis. the sample has to be verified at a lab in ann arbor, and we'll be out of here before the results come back- it's not the kind of thing you treat in kids like isaiah.

our plan for now is to leave chicago on friday, and we are starting the process of figuring out what we need to do to land at home by friday night- getting the drugs we need and finding the right doctors on the other side of the lake to follow up on what has transpired since the surgery six weeks ago today.

the surgeon who did the tethered cord release procedure came by tonight and offered her obligatory apologies. we've never really accepted those- it's not her fault. this visit has just reinforced what we've pretty much always known- isaiah is fragile, and his time has always been, and will always be, borrowed.

joey has been a breath of fresh air- again. thanks to joel and kathy for getting him to chicago- and to nikki and ryan and both sets of grandparents for taking care of him at various times over the past month.