Tuesday 9/26

Every road to recovery has a bump or two along the way. Last night Judah hit a bit of a snag in his recovery, when in the middle of the night his heart rate spiked unexpectedly and wouldn’t go down and he began having difficulty breathing, even through the CPAP mask. It continued for a while and the doctors did everything they could to try to make him a little more comfortable, but were forced to remove the mask and put the breathing tube back in, so that he could breathe properly and hopefully slow his heart rate down.

Because they had to put the ventilator tube back in, they also had to put him back on some of the heavier narcotic medicines to sedate him, to make him more comfortable and breathe easier, and not put so much pressure on his newly repaired heart. The doctors continued to monitor him all night and all day, including chest x-rays and CT scans, to make sure that everything is still ok inside his chest and with his heart and lungs. Mommy and Daddy were by his side all day long talking to him and holding his little hands.

While this may again set us back a few days in getting out of the ICU, with all bad news there is a silver lining. His heart remains strong, and the majority of his vital statistics also remain in the expected range. Although it will take a little longer now to get back to where he was coming off of the heavy drugs, it is still just a small speed bump on a long highway of life.

Tonight begins the Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur; the day of Atonement, where we give charity, pray, ask forgiveness, and the book of life is sealed for another year. Mommy will go to services to pray, while daddy and little J will stay at the hospital and pray from there, watching services at our temple streamed online. Tomorrow Mommy and Daddy will go to temple and it will be a day of atonement, asking forgiveness, and praying for ourselves and all of you for the year to come. We know that you, our dear followers, will continue to keep us in your hearts and prayers, so that one day soon we will all celebrate life together. We wish all of you health and happiness, and an easy fast to all who observe.

J-N-J