Tuesday's update

A couple of pieces of good news today. First, his heart is fine! He does have a valve (PPA? Tasha couldn't remember the name) that didn't close as it should have. Right now it isn't causing him issues, so they will just monitor. It's possible he will need to take medication for this in the future, but right now, it's not an issue. He will have additional ECHOs in the future.

The other piece of good news is that Tasha & Bob qualify for some state assistance for Joshua's medical bills. With their insurance, they would have had to pay 10% of his bills, and the ambulance ride alone was $8000! So the state will pay for anything that their insurance doesn't cover. What a relief!

Joshua is no longer under the lights for jaundice, so Bob and Lou were able to hold him today, for the first time since Sunday. They did warn that he might have to go back under the lights at some point.

They have been measuring his stomach -- yesterday it was 34 inches. (I'm thinking Tasha meant cm or mm or something. Can't be inches!!) and today is was 30-31.

They are doing the biopsy right now (about 2pm in Arizona). Unfortunately, they won't have results for 2 days.

Last night Joshua was trying to poop...his heart rate dropped pretty low because he was pushing so hard. He has had a couple of small successes, but nothing like what they are looking for.

Today at 3pm, Bob has a meeting to get the results from the genetic testing. At 5pm, Joshua will get another enema.

I think that's it for today! I'm going to try to post a couple of pictures that Tasha sent to my cell phone. It sounds like Peggy might have some digital pics for us soon!

Oh - and I had the hospital name wrong yesterday. Desert Sam changed their name to Banner Desert years ago. Sorry!