Making Progress!

We're still down in the PICU in critical condition but Eli is much more stable than a couple days ago and making some good progress!  First things first: As a reminder, his ANC needs to be 500 for two days in a row to be considered engrafted.  Yesterday he was 400 and this morning he was 1200!  We couldn't believe he made such a big jump.  There's a good chance his numbers will drop a bit because he's currently on a medicine called Neupogen that boosts his white count so they will probably stop that tomorrow and then his ANC will likely drop by half but we don't expect him to drop all the way below 500 tomorrow so most likely (fingers crossed!) his ANC will still be above 500 and then they would considered him engrafted today, day 20!  They told us before transplant it would likely happen between days 25 and 28 so he is doing great.  Good job, little dude!

As his counts have gone up, he has continued to oxygenate much better.  The past 24 hours we have been able to wean his numbers quite a bit on the oscillator and his lungs are looking better and better on the chest x-rays.  We're still a ways away from being on regular oxygen or even a less intense ventilator but we will definitely take the progress!  He's still not able to be off the oscillator long enough for them to do a protective brush or scope of his lungs so there's a chance we may not ever know exactly why he has been so sick but the important thing is he's getting healthier all the time.

Because he was so overloaded on fluid, they placed a drain in Eli's tummy yesterday and so far have gotten about a liter off him so that has made a huge difference on his lungs as well.  He's also starting to urinate better so everything is making his little body much happier.  At first I was hesitant to post a picture because he's looked so sick but he's starting to look much better so I thought I'd share a few:

Up in ICS the most pumps Eli had at one time was 4.  With the front and back combined, he now has a total of 16 pumps.  Poor little guy is getting anything and everything right now!

Typical activity while in the ICU because there's not much else to do!

Being in the ICU is definitely a roller coaster ride that has its ups and downs but we feel so happy and blessed with the progress that Eli is making.  We sure are witnessing a miracle!