Max had his first round of hemo dialysis yesterday and everything went great. The doctors called it a complete success. He had one minor complication in the beginning where he had a little bit of a clot that blocked the catheter, but a little heparin broke it up and we moved forward. The fellow said that if that is the worst that we run into we are in great shape. They are starting very slow with him so he was only hooked up for an hour and a half. Right now their main goal is to get the fluid that he has been holding onto off of him. So in the short time that he was being dialyzed they pulled off 350 mL of fluid-that's 11.5 ounces! His blood pressure and heart rate stayed relatively stable which is a huge bonus. One of the major problems is that if the flow is too fast/slow his blood pressure can jump all over the place and make him feel pretty crappy. He tolerated it very well considering he was feeling horrible. He was still breathing pretty heavy despite the fact that they got most of the fluid around his lungs out. He was just fluid overloaded all over his little body. His little face was all puffy :o(

When we called this morning to check on him, his attending physician got on the phone (since they were in the middle of rounds when we called) and she was so happy to tell us that his chest x-ray looked great and that they were amazed at how much his breathing had slowed down since the dialysis. WOO HOO! His nurse also said that he was handing out the first smiles in 3 days this morning. When we got there though he was very sleepy. We got a half smile and that was totally worth it. Plus, his chest tube was removed today! He is so much happier, and we can hold him again :o)

Of course I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat. I went to the hospital and just kept my space between myself and Max, but as we sat there the worst I felt. Unfortunately, I will be staying away from him until I kick this in the butt. Thank you to all who prayed for Max- he is doing so well considering all that he has been through in the past week!

Max was unable to dress-up in his Halloween costume because of his chest tube. I will put him in it once he is feeling great and post them for all to see :o)