Prayers for Samuel

This week our family is asking all of you for a very special prayer concern. As you all know my last update spoke about the concern one of Samuel’s Dr. had for his decreased kidney function. We have been monitoring him closely for the last three weeks and have had a slow decrease in urination and a slight increase in fluid retention. Thursday night was the first time Samuel began to have trouble maintaining his oxygen levels. His breathing became shallow and we had to use oxygen to help him a few times. That night his water retention became more noticeable and his lack of urination more apparent. We have now begun weighting diapers to monitor how much he is secreting.
The good news is that Samuel’s lungs are clear and there are no signs of infection. However this leads his Dr.’s to be very concerned for the wellbeing of his Kidneys. Dr. Noyes says that there has to be an underlying cause for all of this, an underlying cause which he thinks may be his kidneys shutting down.
The concern here is several things. One, Samuel has developed Adema which can cause his heart and lungs to work harder. A risk Samuel could run into from the Adema is congestive heart failure, but at this point his lungs sound wonderful, so that is a much lower concern but one we must monitor and keep in mind. The main concern is his Kidneys.
At this point everything is speculation; we won’t have any concrete answers until Monday. Samuel will be heading to the Hospital on Monday (Dr. Noyes could not see him on Friday) and will be seen by Dr. Albers (Samuel’s Pulmonologist) who will be back from Haiti. We have been given Lasix to hold us over the weekend if necessary, but so far Samuel has not had to take it.
We have full trust that the Lord has a plan in all of this and he is orchestrating everything that is happening right now. Samuel is somewhat uncomfortable, but not in pain where he is crying. The Lord has blessed us with a group of Dr. who are dedicated to seeing Samuel to his first birthday and beyond (as Dr. Sugarbaker told my Mom on Friday). Our prayer is that Samuel would continue to not have pain and that he will be a shining light on Monday when he returns to his mission field. Our prayer for his physical well being is that this would be something easily taken care of and that his kidneys are not shutting down. Samuel is not a candidate for Dialysis (nor would we want to put him through that), and he is not able to have a kidney transplant.
We thank you all for joining us in prayer and loving Samuel with us. May God bless all of you as He has blessed us. Kaitlyn