December 27, 2008 10:30 A.M.

Good morning. After sitting for an hour and attempting to update the blog on Elijah's latest progress, Amanda lost everything due to the faulty internet connection at the hospital. She asked that I (Meredith) update since she can't sit for another hour and do it again and hope it goes through.
Late last night, Wednesday, the doctors became concerned about Elijah's breathing after being extubated. After a chest x-ray, they discovered that his right lung was not moving any air due to the strain on his body to adjust to breathing on his own. They put on what they call a CPAP, which stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. This is a large mask that covers his face, which will apply pressure where he needs it to be able to get the best out of his breathing. Two more chest x-rays showed that this helped but that it wasn't up to 100% yet. When doctors listened with a stethoscope, they noticed a definite improvement. This difficulty in breathing, along with everything else his little body is going through, caused him to become quite agitated so they wanted to give him a little more sedation to calm him down and be able to rest. After administering the drug through his IV, the nurse noticed that his IV was kinked and they weren't sure how much, if any of the drug Elijah received. They administered a different kind of sedation through a suppository. Another setback for Elijah is that he is not able to exhale all of the CO2 out of his blood. The CO2 levels are still high, but the doctors are watching closely and are hopeful that the CPAP will aid in this. Hopefully in the next 24-48 hours they can begin to wean him off of the CPAP. As of this morning, they are still awaiting the official diagnosis so they can begin chemo. Elijah will undergo his first induction as soon as they have the 100% official diagnosis of exactly what kind of leukemia he has. After the 4:00 P.M. labs were drawn yesterday, they learned that Elijah's WBC had climbed back up to 146,000. After this morning's 4:00 A.M. labs, the WBC had dropped slightly to 146,000. Amanda said the resident doctor that she spoke with this morning believed that they would start chemo as soon as possible since they believe that as soon as they can shrink the thymus in his chest, that will certainly aid in his breathing. Amanda said anything can change on that decision depending on what doctor she'll talk to next.
So, the night was a bit of a setback for the Hancocks. Amanda recalled the blessing Elijah received in the beginning of all of this. She remembered that on the road to recovery, Elijah would experience setbacks and that they would have to work through those setbacks.
After visiting Elijah yesterday and getting frequent updates on his condition and watching everything else going on, I would like to echo what Amanda said about the prayers and concern being offered on their behalf. We've already seen some miracles in the dark hours and days that have followed Elijah's initial diagnosis. Please keep those prayers and messages of concern coming. I know they mean more than Levi, Amanda or Elijah can ever express.
Please check back soon for further updates.