a miracle

God gave us the miracle we’ve been praying for!  Silas Bobendrier is going to recover!!  He had a MIRACULOUS turning point last night.  Here is an excerpt from his mom’s blog:

The ECMO machine's main purpose was to oxygenate his blood for him and give his lungs time to heal so they could re-inflate and begin working on their own. Now that he is off of the machine, this means that:

• His lungs have re-inflated...miraculously!! Tonight a new respiratory tech came in who was unfamiliar with the case. He looked at the x-rays from yesterday and those from today and was floored. He couldn't believe it was the same kid. 

• His lungs are oxygenating his blood again. That's a big deal. They are not completely healthy yet, but they're doing the job they were designed to do.

• He is initiating his own breaths. He is still on a ventilator which is regulating his breaths for him, but his body is responding naturally by initiating those breaths.

The next steps are:

• His chest tubes will be removed tomorrow.

• He will remain sedated for a while. His lungs still need time to heal from the pneumonia. They will continue albuterol treatments and "shake him up" a bit with a vest designed to loosen the "gunk" that is still in his lungs.

• Once the gunk is gone they will work to get him off the ventilator. This is our next big goal.

• Once he is off the ventilator we will move out of the PICU to a recovery floor where we will focus on getting the rest of his body back to health (food intake, physical therapy, etc.)

The picture above is the ECMO machine that kept our little Silas alive.  We praise God for this machine but are so amazed at how God got him off of it WAY sooner than expected.  Oh me of little faith!!!!