Saturday, August 2nd

Dave did not have a temperature today and his white blood count was just a little over 10,000. Dave have PT today, but not dialysis. It was a fairly relaxing day for Dave, except he still has hiccups and had a couple more episodes of difficulty breathing. Basically, Dave's diaphragm just freezes and he can't breathe in or out. As you can imagine, this is very scary for Dave and for everyone in the room. This has happened two times today, both this evening, and each lasted for 10-15 seconds. The nurses assured us that he is still getting oxygen when this happens. Dave's heart rate dropped to 60 during the last episode. They said that it is vagal reponse, which is when your heart rate drops due to holding your breath. The doctors have been made aware of his breathing problem and are going to stop by tonight. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors as last night they had no idea as to what could be causing this. We have noticed that it happens when Dave is having a particularly difficult time with hiccups and afterward he doesn't have hiccups (for about 5 minutes). Dave enjoyed mashed potatoes and pureed pears today! Dave remains in good spirits, gaining more strength every day.