The last couple of days have been a roller coaster of emotion, at least for Kaden’s family and I am sure for those of you following his story.

Our last post was about the positive result we received from the balloon procedure. The doctors were able to reduce the pressure through the aortic valve in half. In that first, fast week of Kaden’s life, the pressures in his heart were creeping back up past the severe range, and the procedure helped to reduce the pressures to a mild range. This result was better than expected as they didn’t take an aggressive approach. They also did not want to cause any leakage across the aortic valve, and they did not —- SUCCESS!!

Nate and I had thought watching our one week old baby being rolled off to get his second heart surgery was hard, but seeing him come back still under anesthesia and on a ventilator was harder. He was pale, not moving, and the only way we knew he was alive was because of the countless monitors he was hooked up to that showed a heart rate and oxygen moving through his still, little body.

Our expectations were that the anesthesia would wear off in a couple of hours. Nearly 24 hours later, we were still waiting. It was here when I was reminded of an important lesson through Kaden.

The doctors were set to remove the breathing tube at 1:30pm the day following the procedure. He was still sedated, but extremely irritated with the tube down his throat. He looked as though he was screaming and crying only you couldn’t hear anything because the tube went right between his little vocal chords. It was so hard to see.

As 1:30pm rolled around, Kaden literally pulled the tube out himself. He self-excavated. He had had enough of the pain and irritation and changed his circumstances. From a medical standpoint, this is never what the doctors want as there are obvious risks, but for this little fighter, he didn’t care. He was ready to move on.

I have heard people say that God teaches us lessons through our kids. Yesterday, Kaden was the strong one in the family. You should see the way this little baby handles pain…. The way he moves his little head as the nurses slowly remove the tape from his face, and the countless nasal swabs, blood draws, & IV lines he has had. He doesn’t cry.

Reflecting in this, I know pain is pain, and we all have our stories… But I also think we all have our circumstances we can change just by “pulling the tube out”.

Thanks for sticking with our family, and praying for Kaden. We will keep fighting.

Blessings,

Nate and Erica