In Charleston

Friends and Family,
Well, this road - which we never would have imagined walking down - has lead us to Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina. Since we've been going since 6:15 this morning, this update's gonna be shortish so we can get some sleep. (Now that I've written it, I realize this previous statement was ... ah ... less than accurate. Please forgive).

We don't know exactly what happened this morning, but at some point early in the morning there was an obvious change in Samuel. His skin color was described as 'mottled', his blood gases were off (acidic I think), he was obviously in some kind of distress with great difficulty in breathing. A chest X-ray revealed that his heart was enlarged (more than it has been, I believe) and there was fluid on his lungs. At first they were concerned about his breathing, so they put him on the ventilator which breathes for him. Then they sedated him so that he wouldn't fight against that new tube. They were also concerned about pneumonia, which has been more or less ruled out at this point. As has been a more general infection in his body. When we got there a little after 7 the nurse was working on putting in a PICC line (basically a serious IV whose end is up in the superior vena cava), and adding two other peripheral IVs, just so they would be in in case they were needed. So when we saw him he had more tubes and wires and stuff on and coming out of him than he had to date. It really is tough to see your 2 week old like that. But he was stable - though medically paralyzed.

Around 11:30am, Samuel was taken via helicopter down here to MUSC. He did well in flight and has been stabilized since then. They've done two heart ECOs since he arrived here around 1pm. While we still aren't exactly certain what precipitated this morning's turn of events, we are here and are tentatively on the surgery schedule for Monday. We have heard from Samuel's Doctor this evening some different things than we have been hearing over the past few weeks. The 'pinch' in his aorta she seems to think isn't the biggest issue for him right now, but the hole in between the lower chambers of his heart (the VSD). That was her take having just done the ECO and not having yet looked at all the numbers. It will be interesting to hear what other Drs think after he's been here a little while longer. There haven't been any real revelations about Samuel's condition and he was resting well when we left him 30 minutes ago. He is still on the ventilator and most likely will be until after surgery. There are so many unknowns with Samuel that his Dr tonight even told us to take everything they tell us concerning Samuel with a grain of salt - he's rather unpredictable.

Sara and I arrived here about 6:30 this evening and are adjusting to a new system and a new city. We've got an apartment to stay in (THANK YOU Kapp family!) and have had several other offers to boot. We're about 5 minutes from the hospital which is a drastic improvement from the 25 minute commute from TR to Memorial. At any rate, my parents are on their way into town and Sara's mother is going to bring Anna Catherine and Colin over on Sunday.

Thank you for your many expressions of love and support. We couldn't be doing this without your prayers and helps. We are weary and a little fearful that we are still in the first few miles of this marathon.

Good night and we'll let you know definitives on surgery, etc. when (and if) we have them.
grant.