The Story Continues

The first day in the PICU was filled with ups and down. Aaron's heart rhythm was still erratic, he was in complete heart block.

At one point, the doctors came in and said they were going to put in a pacemaker. When I asked if this would be temporary, they informed me it would be permanent. The idea of my 11yo son having a pacemaker the rest of his life was a bit overwhelming. But no one knew when they would do this. He was not stable enough to go through anesthesia.

The entire day was filled with a parade of doctors and nurses. They had no answers for me, only the same questions that I had already answered...over and over again, with the appearance of each new doctor. And they each wanted to know if I had any questions. Yes, I did, but not any that they had the answers to.

During the second night something happened. Suddenly, there were doctors in Aaron's room again, looking at his cardiac monitor, talking quietly among themselves. The next morning, when the cardiologist came in, he informed me that Aaron's heart had righted itself all on its own. He was now in sinus rhythm! It was faster than they wanted it to be, but it was good. He would not need a pacemaker.
Friday morning, during rounds, the doctors decided it was time to awaken the sleeping giant child. To wean him off the vent and sedation. To let him gently wake up.
It was a day of rejoicing! I knew my son was going to make it!!

One of the medical students discovered during rounds that he was shorter than Aaron. (Aaron is 5'5" and the med student was 5'3") The morning they decided to awaken my son, I laughingly told the med student that Aaron would be ready to arm wrestle by evening. There was laughter all around, and some jokes about the money being on Aaron!

This was an anxious day for me. In spite of the atmosphere of celebration, there was also the unknown that we were still faced with. Would Aaron suffer any brain damage from being down for 10-12 minutes? We would not know for certain for a couple days.

As the sedation began to wear off, and the vent could be removed, the doctors remembered that I had told them about the goofy eyes that Aaron has always made, esp. at his sisters. "Hey, what about the goofy eyes your mom said you make?" one of the doctors asked Aaron. In his groggy state, he made a very good attempt at the goofy eyes. Cheers went up all around the room!

By evening the crowd of doctors had dispersed, it was Friday, and they were all ready to call it a week. They had done good work, and some of them had the weekend to recover.
Gene had gone home to be with the rest of the children for the weekend. I pulled my chair to Aaron's bedside to read the Bible to him and pray for him. After I prayed, thanking God for sparing his life, Aaron began to pray.
"Dear God, please keep healing my body, so you can show everyone how powerful you are", was Aaron's prayer for himself. He spoke this in a barely audible voice, about 6hrs after being taken off the vent. Barely a whisper, but so rich in faith, so precious! He did not ask to be healed, so he could feel better, he wanted to be healed so everyone would know how powerful our God is!