Jacob Cochran

I just wanted to post a few pictures of my cousin Josh and his wife Tracy, and their son Jacob (Jake). I thought it might help to put some faces to the names of the people you have been praying for. These were taken before the heart murmur was detected, in the 2 days were able to hold and care for their little baby. The last update I received was last night.

From Josh: "He's still doing very well. He's been taken off of dopamine, which is used to open up blood vessels to improve blood flow in cardiac patients. He's still on another IV heart medicine but it's being steadily decreased too. Once he's off both medications his heart will be working entirely on its own without any assistance. Absolutely amazing to me for a baby who had open heart surgery two days ago. He was also able to have some food today for the first time since Thursday afternoon, although it was given by feeding tube rather than from a bottle."

"The only minor setback he's had is that he had to be placed back on a ventilator early this morning. This isn't at all uncommon in patients who have been on a ventilator. Already he's back to the lowest level of sedation (necessary to keep him calm with the tube down his throat) and breathing with the assistance of the ventilator, rather than being dependent upon it. The nurses expect him to be taken off of it again tomorrow."

"Once he's off of the ventilator and all IV medications he will be moved from the ICU to a regular hospital room. That will be an enormous milestone in his recovery. I'm not willing to speculate on when that might happen but he's definitely making progress toward it."

"We're already noticing small things about him that his surgery changed. Several people commented on his hands and feet being a little purple and cold during his first couple of days, before his condition was diagnosed. Since the surgery they've turned a much more normal pink and are noticeably warmer. The incision from his surgery, which is just as gruesome as you might imagine, looks better than it did yesterday."

I have edited down Josh's post, but you can still see that this is going to be a long road for this family. Please continue to pray for all of them, I know they appreciate it, as do I.