Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 67

Thank you for your prayers. Mentally I was prepared that Samuel would not be eating normally until spring time 2010. God has exceeded all my expectations. Samuel is having zero spit up (he used to vomit 4 out of 5 feeds). Samuel is eating baby food, crackers, Cheerios, and stars. He is still on Oxygen at night and the G-Tube is giving him formula feeds. He is eating a little better every day with the solid foods. However, he is having a lot of difficulty drinking by mouth. Please pray that Samuel would do well with that.

Latest pictures of Samuel without his ng tube is at:
http://finzerfamily.shutterfly.com/

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 66

Samuel's surgery went very well. The surgeon was able to remove the whole goretex patch and place the G-tube without complications. The G-tube needs to drain any fluid accumulation until tomorrow. After that, they will start feeding him. I am so blessed to have such a great church family. Pastor Gabbard came and prayed for Samuel right before he was taken for surgery, then Gene Belew came to pray for us and with us. I know all of you have been praying ... this morning we got a phone call at 6 AM to let us know that the surgeon had a cancellation and Samuel's surgery was moved up to 8:30 AM! God knows what is best for Samuel and His hand has been orchestrating all the details to make this surgery possible. What an awesome God we serve! Keep praying!

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 65

Praise God that my 10 month old baby boy; Samuel Finzer, will have his surgery tomorrow. God is so good. The surgeon is extremely busy and the next slot available was the end of November. The receptionist said that the GI exam and the surgery becoming available in this short of notice never happens. God can do anything.

In the past month and a half, Samuel has dropped weight. He has acid reflux and is gagging on the feeding tube which goes down his throat. Samuel is in pain when he eats. He has been spitting up 4 out of 5 of his feeds. It has been draining on my wife and I. It is a lot to give Samuel multiple baths and change the bed multiple times a day. The surgery will remove all or part of the gortex patch in his abdomen so that a G-Tube can be put in. The G-Tube will go directly into the stomach thereby eliminating the problem with the gagging and reducing the acid reflux.

This is a new beginning for Samuel. Please pray for his surgery.

The surgery is tomorrow; October 6th at 9:10am at Children's Hospital. Samuel will be in the hospital from 3 to 5 days of recovery.

Free Kanban Board Application

Free, easy to use Kanban Board Application.

http://www.kellermansoftware.com/download/Kanban-Application.zip

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 64

Praise God Samuel came home from the hospital yesterday. Samuel is still breathing harder than normal. Leyla and I are elated that he is home. Samuel seems happy to be home in his own bed. Samuel has an appointment next week to check on his chest pressure dressing.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 63

A quick update. They took out Samuel's chest tube yesterday. They also had a second set of X-Rays which revealed an abnormal pocket of air. The surgeon and the doctors will be meeting today to talk about the X-Rays. Samuel may be coming home as early as today.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 62

Thank you for your prayers. Yesterday afternoon Samuel turned blue and was taken by ambulance to Children's hospital. After a series of x-rays, an ultrasound, and a cat scan they determined that his right lung completely collapsed. The same surgeon that performed the operation for the Diaphragmatic Hernia put in a chest tube and inflated the lung. Samuel is sedated and resting comfortably.

By the providence of God, Leyla's mom is on vacation now and uncle Jorge and aunt Celen are there as well so there are plenty of people to take care of the kids. I also have a half day of work today before the fourth of July holiday. It was an ordeal but God brought us through it. Thank God for Pastor Randall and his wife Felicia; they stayed with us the whole time.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 61

Here are a bunch of recent pictures. Enjoy.

Why was there no May Day on Air France?

My dad was in the Air Force. There was no may day on Air France Flight 447 because of the rapid depressurization of the air plane. He said that at the normal cruising altitude of 32,000 ft, if the plane is depressurized you have about 2 to 3 seconds of consciousness before passing out. The air in your lungs, intestines, and sinuses are sucked out. If you have any air pockets in the fillings in your teeth, the fillings will pop out.

He said at that altitude the temperature is -58 below zero. It would take 5 minutes to free fall from 32,000 feet to 14,000 feet where you would not need an oxygen mask.

Compare .NET Objects

I created an open source project on CodePlex to do a deep compare of .NET Objects.

See:

http://comparenetobjects.codeplex.com/

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 60

There has been a few changes since the last update. The doctor changed Samuel's acid reflux medicine from Zantac to Prevacid. Zantac combats the acid after it is produced. Prevacid prevents acid from being produced in the first place. The doctor said it would be a couple weeks before we noticed a difference.

Leyla took Samuel to the physical therapist this week and an occupational therapist for feeding. Samuel didn't like the physical therapy at all and screamed for an hour. He did better with the feeding therapy. Leyla picked up a couple feeding tips. Samuel is slowly taking more volume per bottle. He sometimes takes up to 50ml. This is an improvement from two weeks ago where he was taking between 10ml and 25ml. The goal is for Samuel to take 110ml.

I went to the BPD appointment with Leyla last week. We were finally able to get a referal for a gastrointranologist. They are so busy the appointment is not until the end of July. The GI doctor will be able to better handle Samuel's acid reflux and prescribe solutions.

Keep praying.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 59

Praise God for all that he has been doing. Samuel was prescribed a new formula called Nutren Jr and it has really made a difference in Samuel's acid reflux. Instead of Samuel screaming through the night; Samuel is now sleeping through the night.

Leyla was prescribed medicine for her depression. She is doing much better. Since Samuel is sleeping better, Leyla is sleeping better.

Leyla and I tried to give Samuel the bottle all week. Within the past three days he has started taking the bottle again. He needs to take about 100ml. He takes about 25ml. Sometimes he takes 50ml but then spits up half of it.

Samuel is a much happier baby now. He was always giving grunts of pain. Things are looking up.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 58

Thanks to Rachael Ratliff, Jen Pond, and Jen McCracken for taking Leyla out this past Friday. Leyla really needed to get out of the house. Dublin Baptist Church and Broadway United Methodist; wow, thanks for all the cards. Encouragers class thanks for the flowers and the money for the PediaSure.

Samuel is having a lot of problems with his acid reflux. After talking with Jen Pond on Friday, we believe that Samuel either needs a higher dosage or a different acid reflux medicine. Both Jen Pond's girls had really bad acid reflux. Samuel has been given Zantac since being on the feeding tube two months ago. The acid reflux is so bad, Samuel isn't taking the bottle at all. Everything is going in the feeding tube. Leyla is meeting with the doctor on Thursday to talk about the acid reflux and all the stress she is going through. At least now we know why he has so much trouble taking the bottle.

Pray for Samuel's acid reflux and his BPD (bronchopulmonary dysplasia).

On a positive note, my sister had a healthy baby girl last night. They have two boys and were praying for a girl. God is so good.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 57

Leyla took Samuel to the BPD clinic yesterday. Samuel grew but he did not gain any weight. Samuel was supposed to take 600-740ml per day but he was taking around 300ml per day. The feed tube is back in. He is to remain on Pedia Sure until the next appt on May 6th. He will be re-evaluated then. We bought a couple swaddle wraps so that he doesn't try to pull out the feeding tube during his feeding. Please pray that Samuel would do better with his feeding. There will be another appointment soon with a feeding consultant.

They spent more time with Leyla to try and see if she has post partum depression. She wasn't diagnosed with it but Leyla tends to keep things to herself. She acts like she is happy to people outside the immediate family. She is really having a rough time since Samuel has been cranky, not eating, and having a month of giving him 24 hour care with about 4 hours sleep per night. This would affect anyone. We are going to seek professional help for Leyla. Please pray for Leyla that God would give her the peace that passes all understanding.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 56

It has been a busy roller coaster of a couple weeks. Samuel took out his feeding tube and is now totally on the bottle. That is a huge step forward. Leyla met with the Surgeon that performed Samuel's surgery and the surgeon said we will wait until Samuel is one year old until the gortex patch is removed in Samuel's belly. Leyla met with the nutritionist, she said that because Samuel is not gaining any weight he should take PediaSure vanilla flavor. Now that Samuel is drinking that vanilla flavored PediaSure, he smell likes vanilla. The room smells like vanilla too. Leyla also met with two physical therapists. They gave Leyla additional exercises to do with Samuel. Pray for Leyla's patience. Samuel has been very fussy the past few days with his feedings. Pray that Samuel would eat well during the day. He tends to catch up at the midnight feeding.

Thanks for the cards and letters. It means so much.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 55

A quick update. Your prayers are working, Samuel was able to drink an entire bottle last night for the first time. Keep praying.

God is good.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 54

The nurse from disability services came today. Samuel continues to favor turning his head to the right and can't lift his head up when he is on his tummy. Samuel was sedated with his head turned to the right the first month after he was born. The doctor at the BPD clinic said that Samuel needs more physical therapy. Samuel is getting physical therapy once a month. Leyla is going to try to get physical therapy for Samuel at least once a week. She is going to call and see what can be done through the three insurances that we now have.

It has been a busy week with the right recliner on the couch breaking, the refrigerator breaking, and going to the Men of Valor conference. The refrigerator is fixed now and the recliner is in the process of being fixed.

Praise God we now have an oxygen tank refilling system. Leyla is able to use the oxygen tanks to go out more without fear of running out of oxygen.

Samuel has a really wonderful dimple. I hope to post some more pictures soon.

Thanks everyone for the prayers, meals, and continued help.

Deleting .svn Folders for Subversion Using C#

This past weekend I needed the ability to programmatically delete the .svn folders used by subversion in my project. I created some code in C# to change the subversion files to be writable and delete them.

Here is how to use it:
DeleteSubFolders(@"c:\svn\MyProject\Trunk",".svn",true);

Here is the code:

public static void DeleteSubFolders(string folderPath, string wildcardPattern, bool top)

{

String[] list;

//If we are at the top level, get all directory names that match the pattern

if (top)

list = Directory.GetDirectories(folderPath, wildcardPattern, SearchOption.AllDirectories);

else //Get directories and files for matching sub directories

list = Directory.GetFileSystemEntries(folderPath, wildcardPattern);

foreach (string item in list)

{

//Sub directories

if (Directory.Exists(item))

{

//Match all sub directories

DeleteSubFolders(item, "*", false);

}

else // Files in directory

{

//Get the attribute for the file

FileAttributes fileAtts = File.GetAttributes(item);

//If it is read only make it writable

if ((fileAtts & FileAttributes.ReadOnly) != 0)

{

File.SetAttributes(item, fileAtts & ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly);

}

File.Delete(item);

}

}

//Delete the matching folder that we are in

if (top == false)

{

Directory.Delete(folderPath);

}

}

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 53

I haven't had an update in a while and I know you are wondering what is going on. We have been busy taking care of Samuel. Samuel continues to be on the .4 Liters of oxygen per minute as before. He is taking around 20ml in the bottle and 80ml in the feeding tube. Samuel had a normal checkup with our family doctor. He is normal, height, weight, and motor skills despite all that has gone on. That is certainly good news. The doctors at Children's hospital would like for Samuel to take the entire 100ml by bottle. That would be a specific thing you can pray for. Below are some pictures. Enjoy. Click the pictures to make them bigger.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 52

Samuel is home! The first night went well. The only thing that we had a little trouble with was cleaning the feed bag. The valve on the bag was a little hard to find to flush it with water.

I made a daily schedule for Leyla to use to organize the dispensing of meds and cleaning of equipment. I need to make a weekly equipment cleaning schedule as well.

Here it is just for fun: Daily Samuel Schedule

Crystal really missed her brother. She was up until 11pm last night. Today she is staying home from school. She got up at 7am today and went straight to Samuel's room. She is sitting in the rocking chair by Samuel's bed and constantly watching Samuel to make sure he is alright.

It is such a blessing to be able to wake up in the morning and go into Samuel's room and see him there instead of driving to the hospital at night.

Please pray for Jasmine (my three year old) as she has a low grade fever and a cough.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 51

All,

Great news. God is so good. The doctor that performed the Gastronomic Intestinal Exam overreacted. Samuel will not need a surgery for his malrotated intestine in the near future. After Samuel gets home we will need to watch that Samuel does not have severe vomiting or constipation. If he does then we will need to take him to the emergency room.

One of the things that they found out when they did the GI Exam is that Samuel's stomach settled directly under the gortex patch that they put in when he had the surgery to correct the D-Hernia. This means that there will be no G-Tube going directly into his stomach. He will continue to use the feeding tube which is going down his nose.

Over the past few days Leyla and I have been scheduling and attending appointments so that Samuel can come home. The doctor called this morning and she said that Samuel could come home today!!!!!! It is going to be another crazy day for us. Thanks for your prayers and cards.

To Do Today:

• Get training on Oxygen System
• Get training on Apnea Monitor
• Buy new car seat because ours was expired
• Meet with nutritionist
• Meet with pharmacy
• Bring Samuel home :)

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 50

Bad news on Samuel. They just did the gastro intestinal exam today. They found that Samuel has a malrotated intestine. This will have to be corrected with another surgery before Samuel comes home. It is not causing any immediate problems but it would cause problems with solid foods in the future. This problem is common with babies born with a D-Hernia.

Our boy has been through a lot and it pains me to see him go through another surgery. I love him dearly. We just found out about this. At this point we have many questions. When did this happen? Is this causing the problem with the bottle feeding? As soon as I know more, I will let you know.

Thanks so much for praying.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 49

Samuel sometimes drinks a lot from the bottle and sometimes drinks a little. On Tuesday, Samuel took only a small amount when being held by Leyla. On Wednesday when neither of us could go, he drank a lot. Yesterday when I held him he took a little. I am thinking that Leyla and I are too exciting and Samuel would rather talk and coo to us than drink. Because of all this up and down with the bottle, the doctor is going to give Samuel some extra time. Samuel will still be coming home in March, just not the first week of March.

Samuel is still breathing kind of fast; 50-70 bpm. He is doing better little by little though.

This week they are going to do a gastro intestinal workup to see where his stomach is. This is in preparation for the G-Tube if he needs it.

Samuel sure is a cutie.

Praise God that the business is doing okay this month despite the recession. Thank God that the federal and state tax refunds are in quickly so that we can pay some bills. Thank God for all of you that are bringing meals, bringing Crystal from the bus stop, taking care of the girls. Thank God for all of the prayers for Samuel.

How to Kill a Trojan Virus on Bootup

My mother in law bless her heart has always had problems with viruses and spy ware infecting her PCs. This is despite her having anti-virus programs installed.

She had a Trojan on her PC. This Trojan is so smart that it actually prevents new anti-virus programs from being installed. The only way to kill it is to boot from a CD on before it has a chance to load. The problem with most emergency disks available is that they are old and cannot kill the latest and greatest viruses or deal with NTFS partitions.

After a lot of research here are the tools that I tried on her PC to kill the virus:

• Avira Rescue CD - This is a free bootable CD that can kill viruses. They update it hourly.
  
• Kapersky Anti-Virus CD - Another bootable CD that can kill viruses. They update it around once per week.
  
• Ultimate Boot CD for Windows - This one is a bootable XP CD (you need your XP install disk to create it). It has numerous anti-virus and anti-spyware programs that can update with the latest virus signatures. You must use Windows XP to create the CD. It doesn't run under Vista. However it can run under a Virtual PC with Windows XP.
  

To burn the CDs you will need an ISO burner such as ImgBurn


FYI, here are some dead ends that I ran into:

• McAfee has no such thing as a recent Emergency Disk that can deal with NTFS volumes.
• Norton has no such thing as a recent Emergency Disk that can deal with NTFS volumes.
• The original Ultimate Boot CD is a DOS bootable CD that has ancient McAfee Anti Virus on it. Worthless.
• Trinity Rescue Kit is a Linux bootable CD that contains no Anti-Virus Software.

The outcome:

• Avira Rescue CD could not kill the virus, it simply renamed it.
• I was never able to create the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. Neither a virtual machine or a regular Windows XP desktop worked. It always gave an obscure error.
• Kapersky Anti-Virus is the clear winner. It was able to delete the virus. The PC is running full speed again and my mother in law is happy.
  

Some questions that I still need to answer:

• It would be nice to figure out how to get the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows to boot with a USB drive. It would be great I could simply boot up and get the latest anti-virus definitions instead of burning a new CD every time.
• It would be nice to figure out how to get the AVGFree Version 8 as a plug in to the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. Version 7.5 is included currently.

Here are some links I found to make a USB drive bootable:
http://www.nu2.nu/mkbt/
http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm
http://www.prime-expert.com/flashboot/index.php

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 48

Big news. Samuel is going to come home in two or three weeks. They will be evaluating him in two weeks to see if he will be coming home with a G-Tube (a feeding line right to his stomach). This week they are trying something different. They are feeding him every 4 hours instead of 3 so that he is hungrier for the bottle. He was only taking 5-10ml because he wasn't hungry enough. Yesterday he took 40 from the bottle.

I have mixed feelings about Samuel coming home. I am going to be very happy that I will get to see my boy every day. However when he comes home it will essentially be a NICU at home with Leyla as the nurse. Samuel will be on oxygen until end of summer and most likely have a G-Tube. There will also be monitoring equipment. What this all means is that instead of going to the hospital; Leyla will be at the house caring for Samuel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Samuel will be in his room with all that equipment; oxygen tanks, monitors, and a feeding machine. Please pray for Leyla, she has been under a lot of stress with the mastitis, the crazy pumping schedule, traveling to the hospital. She is going to be teaching an online course (possibly two sections) starting in March.

I just don't even know what to think. It is different, longer term than I was expecting. No vacation to the beach this summer like I was hoping. No visiting relatives for birthday parties. However, I know God has a plan for all of this. It is only a season and it will pass.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 47

Samuel is doing well. He is now taking two feedings a day from Leyla. He is now visibly showing off for mom when she is there.




He was able to reach the mobile and is now hitting the animals. These are some of my favorite pictures. When Samuel thinks something is cool he makes an ooooo face.




My parents are coming down until Thursday to give the neighbors and the church a break. It takes a lot of help to put Crystal on the bus, get Crystal from the bus and take care of the girls while Leyla is at the hospital feeding Samuel. I can say enough how grateful we are to all of you. More updates later. Thanks for praying.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 46

Today has been an up week on the Samuel roller coaster. They moved Samuel into the chronic NICU and gave Leyla a long term parking pass. Samuel will be there a while. The room is much nicer than the main NICU pod which had like 20 babies all in one room. Samuel could hardly sleep with all the monitor alarms and babies crying. I think Samuel will do much better in his own room.

He had trouble feeding from the bottle this week. A big praise though is that yesterday Leyla was able to breast feed him. Samuel did really well with that. After feeding from Leyla, Samuel is noticeably more relaxed and is not breathing as fast. Leyla is really happy. I am really happy. Her mom is really happy.

They lowered his oxygen to from .5 to .4 Liters/Hour. They also increased his feeding from 70ml to 75ml (this is a little over two ounces).

When I saw Samuel last night he was doing really well. He was content. I will post some pictures tomorrow for all of you.

Thanks to all of you that are helping take care of the girls while Leyla is feeding Samuel.

I have a request for whoever is reading this blog; we need help for about 2 hours tonight for someone to take care of the kids. We have a parent teacher conference at 6:40pm. I know it is short notice. Leyla's mom can't help since she has another commitment.

Thanks for your prayers.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 45

Sorry for the lack of updates. It has been kind of a crazy week. They tried reducing the oxygen from .3 Liters per hour to .2 and Samuel could not handle it. He was sweating and could not take a bottle. They had to bump up his oxygen back to .5 liters per hour. He was at three bottles per day and now he is at no bottles per day. All the feeding is being done from the feeding tube. This week they are planning to feed him with one bottle a day. The nutritionist will feed him instead of Leyla.

Leyla and I have been over to visit Samuel a couple times. He is a real cutie. He really liked it when I sang "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to him. I think that is his favorite.

Both girls were sick with a fever for a couple days. Crystal still has a cold. We had to cancel a trip to COSI with my sister and her boys because the girls were sick. Leyla has mastitis again. Leyla is still bleeding since the birth. Our hamster died over the weekend. This was Crystal's pet. She took it really well. She wants to get a goldfish now.

As you can imagine, with the set back for Samuel and all the sickness we are emotionally drained now.

A big praise in all this is that I was requested by name for a new assignment. I will be there until the end of the year. It is in Dublin so it is a much shorter drive than Polaris since we live in Hilliard. I don't have to worry about getting laid off since I am making my company money by being out on assignment the entire year.

Thanks to all the neighbors that helped during the snow storm. Thanks for all the wonderful meals and cards.

Please pray.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 44

Last week they ramped up Samuel's bottle feeding to two times a day. This week they are planning on doing three bottles a day. They are reducing the quantity and increasing the calories by adding formula to Leyla's milk.

Everyone continues to ask when will Samuel be home. We don't know yet, it is up to Samuel. He continues to breathe about 50 to 80 breaths per minute. The doctors would like him to breathe under 60 breaths per minute.

Thank you for your prayers.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 43

Leyla was able to see Samuel today at the hospital and give him a bottle. Samuel is doing much better now with a bottle. At first he had a hard time figure out how to breathe and eat. I am planning to see him tomorrow night and give him a bottle. He is able to take 30ml (1 ounce) through the bottle. There have been no other changes. He is doing well.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 42

Good news! Samuel was just given a small amount of milk (20ml) through a bottle today. Samuel responded well to it.

He has been breathing too fast, more than 70 breaths per minute. The doctors would like to see him below 60. He is still at the same level of oxygen (40%).

Leyla was able to see Samuel today. I am planning to go see him tonight.

Things to pray for:
* That Leyla would be able to produce enough milk for Samuel. Right now it is a race between Samuel and Leyla. Leyla's grandma gave Leyla some powdered sesame seeds for her to drink with milk.
* That Samuel's would calm down and his breaths per minute would be low enough for him to take more milk in the bottle.

Thanks!

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 41

Samuel is now drinking more milk than what Leyla is producing. They increased Samuel's milk to 74ml (which is around 2.5 ounces) every 3 hours. Leyla is producing 2 ounces every 3 hours. Leyla is going to drop off some more milk today that is frozen at her moms house.

They haven't been able to decrease the oxygen. The is still at about 40%.

I am planning to visit Samuel tonight and wear a mask since I have a cold yet. Leyla is doing better with her Mastitis.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 40

There have been no changes the past couple of days with Samuel. He is still on the same level of oxygen and the same amount of milk. The doctors are not planning any other changes.

A few praises, my Dad was able to fix the garbage disposal. Leyla's fever broke and she is doing much better. The girls are recovered from their fevers. However it looks like as of this morning Jasmine (my 3 year old) has a urinary tract infection.

Pray that Samuel will get stronger so they could reduce his oxygen. Right now he is kind of stuck. Pray for Leyla as she still has Mastitus and is in pain. Pray for Jasmine, she is in a lot of pain and was screaming in the early morning.

I went to the Social Security Administration yesterday to apply for Social Security Income for Samuel. It is not much; $30/month but we have to be approved for that before I can apply for Medicaid for Samuel. The idea is that the Medicaid will be used as a secondary insurance when Samuel has his second surgery to remove the gortex patch in his abdomen.

Thanks for praying. Thanks for all the visits to Samuel while we are sick, it means a lot. I am working with my cold but I am staying away from Samuel.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 39

Samuel is doing well. They took out his pic line yesterday (this was the line that they were giving him the medicines and the intravenous feeding). He is doing fine with Leyla's milk. They put in some more calories and protein to strengthen him.



He is about 40% oxygen. Remember this oxygen is through the nose. He is doing all the breathing on his own. He does well when he is content. When he is hungry or has a dirty diaper his oxygen levels decrease.



This has been a rough couple days for the rest of the Finzer family. The girls have had a fever for the past two days. Last night Leyla and I were up for the whole night because Leyla was so sick with a fever (103 degrees). We slept with a bucket between us because she was naseous. This morning I took Leyla to urgent care. She was diagnosed with sinusitis. They put her on a strong antibiotic. I am starting to get sick since I had no sleep last night. Leyla and I stayed in bed all day today to try to recover.



My mom and dad just arrived and they will be helping with the girls and helping Leyla get better. Please pray for Leyla she is taking it really hard that both her girls are sick and she is sick and none of us can go see Samuel in the hospital. If you can send Leyla a funny get well soon card I am sure it would lift her spirits.

Leyla Finzer
1411 Kellerman Court
Columbus, OH 43228

Thanks to all of you that have given toward the medical bills. I have a peace knowing that there is money in the bank as the bills are rolling in. I just sent out $800 yesterday towards the birth. When it rains it pours. Our garbage disposal just bit the dust about an hour ago. I thank God that we are able to replace that too.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of Samuel and Leyla a couple days ago. She didn't have a fever then but she still had to wear a mask, a gown, and gloves to be with Samuel.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 38

Big news. Samuel was super mad at the ventilator tube this morning and he pulled it out himself while the nurse was out of the room. He is breathing fast and is a little bit scared because he pulled it out. He is being given oxygen through the nose. They also put the feeding tube down his nose. He didn't like that at all. They are going to feed him when he calms down. Pray for Samuel's peace. Pray that Samuel will not pull the tubes out of his nose now.

Pray for Leyla she has a cold and will have to wear a mask to go see Samuel today.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 37

Picture of Samuel from last nights visit with Mami Priscilla and Grandma Leonor.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 36

Praise God. As of this morning Samuel is totally off the intravenous feeding and being fed totally by Leyla's milk. They are going to up his milk to 60ml (2 ounces) today. He is still hovering around the same oxygen level.

Samuel really hates the ventilator tube. This morning he gagged himself and threw up. The doctors are thinking about taking out the ventilator tube tomorrow. We will know more after the doctors rounds this morning.

Baby steps. Someone asks me every day. So have the doctor's said when Samuel can come home? I told one person that it is up to Samuel. He replied; he's a Finzer so who knows. :)

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 35

Last night I was able to hold Samuel. Daddy runs a little hot so after about an hour of me holding him Samuel became mad and tried to kick off the blanket.

Today they ramped up the milk to 40ml which is a little over an ounce. Leyla had a visit with Samuel and was able to hold him for the first time.

The current plan is to get him to two ounces of milk by Friday. The doctor doesn't expect any feeding problems. The current plan is to get him off the lipids and electrolytes and totally on milk. The ventalator tube can come off later when he is ready; sometime next week. The doctor wants to get the pic line out soon since it can be an area where infection can enter the body. The pic line is where all the medicines, fluids, and intravenous food is going in.

Samuel is progressing well. God is good.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 34

Great news; they started giving Samuel Leyla's milk. They started him out with 5ml yesterday morning then ramped up to 20ml during the night. Today they are planning to give him 30ml. 30ml is about an ounce.

They haven't taken him off the ventilator yet. He is still around 32% oxygen. They tried lowering it but he couldn't tolerate it.

More updates later.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 33

We came to the hospital and because of the set back this morning they put his oxygen up to 38%. They decided not to take him off the ventilator. He may come off the ventilator tonight or tomorrow. They gave him another dose of ativan while we were at the hospital to calm him down. They put a feeding tube down his throat and he is receiving pedia lite.

Please pray that Samuel would be strong enough to come off the ventilator. Crystal has been praying specifically that they would get the tape off Samuel's face.

Thanks for praying.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 32

As of 4pm yesterday they turned off the Nitric Oxide. They also reduced the fentanyl (the pain med) to .5 mcg. He stayed at 28% oxygen for the day.

I called the nurse this morning. They are expecting to take Samuel completely off the ventilator this afternoon. They had to do a lot of suctioning this morning and Samuel had a small set back but then he was fine shortly. They had to give him a dose of ativan to calm him down. I am planning to visit Samuel this afternoon. I want to be there when the take the ventilator off. This is a big step. Please pray that Samuel would be able to breath well on his own.

Big thanks to all that gave money to help with the medical bills; family foundations class, cornerstone class, spousology class, and neighbors. I was a little anxious how we were going to pay the medical bills. Thanks to all of you; I really have a peace that God is going to take care of every detail of this trial.

Thanks to our neighbor Diedra for the breast milk freezing organizer. This is perfect timing since Leyla is almost producing more that what the hospital vials can hold.

Thanks to the Driesbach's for the wonderful treat bag. We feel spoiled.

Yesterday I took the girls to COSI because they worked so hard on Thursday taking down the Christmas decorations inside and filling up the van with junk from the crawl space. My 5 year old must have gone up and down the stairs a hundred times. Jasmine (my three year old) filled the back of the mini van with junk. Jasmine and I were sick last night from something we ate at COSI. Who knows what it was, I ordered a little bit of everything. Praise God that we are both better after a good nights sleep.

Holding on to this verse today:

Philipians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Samuel Kenneth Finzer Update 31

Samuel was content and looking around yesterday. They weaned his oxygen to 28% and his oxygen saturation continued to be in the high 90's (anything above 84 is good). They decreased his Nitric oxide from 2.5 to 1. They changed his sedative from every 8 hours to every 12 hours. They are continuing to give the lasix to help drain the fluid he tends to retain.

As of this morning at 9am Samuel is at 26% oxygen (21% is what you are breathing now). They are planning on turning off the Nitric Oxide and weaning the fentanyl slightly today.

Samuel is doing very well. It won't be long now until they try the feeding tube instead of feeding him intravenously. Your prayers have really helped. If you would please pray that Samuel would be able to be tolerate feeding with the feeding tube we would really appreciate it. Leyla read a blog last night about another baby with a Diaphragmatic Hernia and she needed another surgery because she had so much spit up and could not tolerate the mother's milk. She is concerned, please pray for her peace. Please pray for Samuel's continued strength.

God is mighty. God knows exactly what is going on. He sees everything:

Jeremiah 32:19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.