That Touch of Grace, Faith, & Hope: God always will answer...

First and foremost Karter is still holding stable. The lower region of her lungs are having micro collapses which in essence means that a lot of the little air sacks in the lungs are starting to collapse potentially leading to a more complete collapse. In order to head this off they have kept her on her ventilator and have given her a new medication. They also have begun a more aggressive treatment with some lung therapy including little wave beatings by hand, the hand pump, and breathing treatments through the hand pump. So at this time while it could become something serious they feel as if they caught it in plenty of time to solve the problem. She also has a small build up of mucus in her lungs so these treatments should help that issue as well. On her four o'clock x-ray she did not show any signs of improvement that is why they went ahead with the aggressive treatments. The doctors do not feel at this time that this is a set back but rather just another little bump in the road to recovery. They are hopeful to excavate tomorrow morning so we will see!

Today Jeremy & I decided to stay at the hospital for lunch since she was having a little bit of trouble. I am so thankful that we did for today was one of those days where I just needed a little sign from God saying that he was still here and that he would always answer. Upon sitting at lunch at the outside patio I began to wonder if the hospital would allow Karter to stay here for all of her upcoming treatments throughout her life, even as an adult. I asked Jeremy and explained my reasoning that most Down's people are just big kids at heart. The staff here is AWESOME and I just want her to always get this kind of care. Not even 30 seconds after asking this question an SUV pulled up. As we were watching the family start to get out I noticed exactly who the patient was in the vehicle. Out stepped a beautiful lady probably in her late 20's to 30's with nothing other than Down's Syndrome. Even though it was probably over 90 degrees outside I began to get the chills. God answered my question....Karter Bear will always be welcomed here at Children's Medical Center no matter what her age. How wonderful is our Lord? I pretty much lost it at this point and tears just ran for all sorts of reasons down my face.

I am still in shock tonight over my answered question. I know everything happens for a reason but it is great to know who is behind all of this reasoning, our Lord and Savior.

Tonight I thought I would share two more of Karter's post OP photos. The second one really shows her incision pretty well. The first one is from last night and she was covered by a blanket because she still had all of her chest tubes in which as of today all but one has been pulled out! :) Enjoy!