Daily Status UpDade - Monday, 8/18/14

It's been kind of a long day today.  The bleeding from Dade's chest tube continued, but as I'm writing this, it appears to have stopped.  That means one of two things: 1) the bleeding has actually stopped, or 2) the chest tube has clogged and the bleeding is staying inside rather than coming out.  We're claiming that it has stopped, because all we can do right now and have been able to do this entire time is to depend on God to handle this.  The nurses will of course be keeping an eye on things over night to make sure that is indeed the case.  

The main issue tonight as it has been put to us by Dr. Anderson is carbon dioxide.  Dade is right at the cusp of coming off of ECMO again, which is where we need him to be; he just has to make it over the hump to get there.  To do that, Dade has to maintain his carbon dioxide levels at a certain point.  His X-rays can get better, his heart can shift, but if neither of those things happens, they won't keep him on ECMO; CO2 levels will.  That demonstrates that his lungs are working as they should and are ready to do so without the assistance of the machine. 

That said, our prayer target now (spread the word) is for God to heal Dade's lungs to maintain those CO2 levels exactly where they need to be, and soon.  I don't know what that number is, but He does, and that's good enough.  

I started reading a devotional series from Future Grace by John Piper today about God's promises. The lesson was centered around Psalm 116:12-14.  It begins, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" Piper goes on to say, 

The psalmist’s answer to his own question, "What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits?” is, in essence, that he will go on receiving from the Lord so that the Lord’s inexhaustible goodness will be magnified.

In the midst of Dade's situation, something I'm having to remind myself of is that it is impossible to ask God for too much. In other words, He will not hit a point where He will throw up his hands and say, "ENOUGH ALREADY!!"  It's not in my nature to ask anyone for anything. That's not pride or arrogance; self-sufficiency is just part of my upbringing.  That's also not to say that I never rely on God, but I think sometimes that switch unintentionally flips to where, in the back of my mind, I feel like I've bothered God enough. God has blessed Tara and I with a wonderful marriage, He's put us in fantastic jobs, He's given us an unbelievable community of family and friends to surround us during this time, and now He's given us this beautiful baby boy who is the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on.  Even with all of that, I unabashedly call upon God the Father to continue to pour out His gifts upon our little family to heal Dade so that we may take those gifts and magnify His goodness, His inexplicable power, and His faithfulness.  We said at the outset of this that our wish for Dade is that he be an instrument for God's use.  Join us as we continue to ask God for exactly that.