The roller coaster continues around here. Since Josiah has been here in the hospice house, along with everything else, has experienced some severe shoulder pain. The doctor here did not feel like it was anything to do with his shoulder, but refered pain from the pressure on his diaphragm from all the fluid in his lungs. Josiah was taking all kinds of pain meds and it wasn’t even touching the pain in his shoulder. The doctor here wanted to put a drain tube in to relieve some of that pressure and hopefully help with the pain and shortness of breath. After much discussion and prayer, we decided yesterday to go ahead and do it. Josiah was transferred to the hospital for a few hours to have it done and then brought back here to the hospice house. The procedure went well and they drained three liters of fluid off Josiah’s right lung. He had several hours of very intense and exhausting coughing trying to get his crumpled lung re-inflated. Draining off the fluid completely took care of the shoulder pain, PTL! He is having significant pain around the site of the drainage tube, but he is breathing easier and his color is much better. There always seems to be a trade-off.
This procedure was not done to prolong his life. We are NOT trying to play God…I know we couldn’t do that even if we wanted to. We made this choice to give Josiah some relief and comfort. He was in so much pain he could find no relief in any position. We are praying that there are no complications as his lung re-inflates and for more precious, memory-making moments.
Beautiful Things 