Repeat chest xray

It was good news on the repeat chest xray. No need to re-insert the chest tube. Now we need to wean off the oxygen altogether. They have started some breathing treatments (kind of like kids with asthma receive) that include Mucomyst, a medicine which will help loosen up the thick mucus in his lungs. He is currently on 2 liters of oxygen per nasal cannula (those nose prong things that stick in your nostrils). That is not much. Some people go home on that amount with a portable oxygen tank. We'll do that if we need to but would prefer not.

He desaturates (loses) the oxygen in his blood stream with activity like walking. However he is quick to recover. You can chalk that up to his youth and incredible cardiovascular conditioning from swimming.

All of this is quite miraculous when you remember the initial prediction that he would be intubated for 7-14 days. I saw the trauma surgeon in the hallway while Lars was walking this evening. He was the one who admitted Lars to the hospital. He was scratching his head at how well Lars has done as he recalled the initial CT scan of his lungs. We know that there was more going on here than traditional medical treatment. Thank you all again for your fasting and prayers.

Incidentally, I never reported the results of Lars study to evaluate if he had a hematoma around the duodenum. He did not. The results were normal.