zachary
Posted by Sherry on May 25, 2008
Mauri and I had a rare outing yesterday. We drove into Portland and up to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Here’s the view from up there:
We went to see our young friend Zachary, who’s been there more than three weeks. That’s a long time to be in ICU, attached to tubes and ventilator. Zach and his family anticipated a 10-day stay, which sounded plenty long, but things haven’t gone as planned and he’s had numerous emergencies in this journey to wholeness.
Zach doesn’t have much to smile about lately. The surgery was meant to open up his airway, which nearly his whole life has been held open with a tracheotomy. As a baby in an Indian orphanage, Zachary had complications in what should have been a simple operation, and he ended up with a trach. When our youth pastor, Josh, and his wife, Kayla, adopted him, they had high hopes that the situation could be corrected. One operation more than a year ago allowed Zach to breathe without the trach and he eventually learned to talk. This was a huge encouragement to him and his family. But he could still not breathe well enough to do all the usual kid activities, and his parents were eager to have this surgery to help their son function like a normal kid.
But all is not well. Whenever the doctors extubate him, his throat gradually fills with gunk because he can’t cough it out like you and I do so naturally and easily. Sitting in a hospital bed for such a long time has caused him to weaken and lose weight. Josh and Kayla remain hopeful but could easily get discouraged with the long roller-coaster journey they’ve been on. When you think of Zachary, would you join us and others who are praying for him…and for his doctors, who plan to extubate him on Wednesday?
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