Catherine Herridge Brings Us Up to Date Via Greta

Sounds like Peter is healing well, and recovering from his transplant. It must be wonderful to see such a sick infant grow into a pink, healthy 'normal' child!

Previously, just in case you have not kept up with Baby Peter and liver transplant from Mom:
First, then,
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here

God bless!!


From GretaWire:

Now for some e-mails — the first is from my colleague, Catherine Herridge. I would update you on her son Peter, but she does it so much better:

E-mail No. 1

Greta, hoping your travels are good.

Baby Peter is looking better every day. He is spending a lot of time now playing with the mobile we have set up in his hospital crib. It has a big sun and birds and a caterpillar that rotate to the songs "Jumpin' Jazz" and "Cozy Classic." Peter's nurses are good sports because after eight hours it is impossible to get these tunes out of your head.

The doctors say it is an excellent sign that he has started to play again — in other words — act like a baby again. His belly looks smaller, not only will he grow into his new liver, but his new organ knows to shrink because his body doesn't need that much capacity. While modern medicine is an amazing thing, I find it more impressive how much the body can do on its own.

Last night outside the pediatric ICU, I said good-bye to one of the doctors who had been working with Peter. Paul was the one who helped Peter the night his lung collapsed. Paul has finished his training at the pediatric ICU and will now work in an adult ICU.

As I shook his hand, I felt he was genuinely sad to say goodbye and wished us all the best. He said Peter was well on his way. I thanked him for everything he had done to help us. He simply said that was his job. I am spending a lot of time now thanking people who have helped save Peter.

Everyday, a nurse or doctor or member of the transplant team will stop by to see how he is doing. Not because they have to, but because they want to. That is how invested these people are in seeing him get better. Peter just lies back in his bed and gives them one of his signature crooked baby smiles. It is very sweet. I know he is only six months old but I feel that he knows that a lot of people are pulling for him.

I am no longer doing the "donor shuffle." That's what the doctors call the posture most donors adopt after surgery because their abdomen is sore and they feel more comfortable hunched over. That said, Jamie, our two-year old, keeps pointing at my scar and saying "Momma, BOO BOO." I think he says "boo boo" extra loud because it's his way of saying "Hey, that is BIG."