Surgery #2

While I held Eli on Wednesday, I got my daily update from the doctor. He seemed concerned that Eli's ventilator stats were continually trending upward. Eli was receiving breathing treatments to help open his lungs for better gas exchange but these treatments were not having much of an effect—Eli's blood gases still contained large amounts of carbon dioxide. The doctor wanted to do another echocardiogram the next day to check on the size of Eli's PDA. Since Eli's PDA had reopened, surgery to close it was inevitable; it was just a matter of when. I was sad that we would be going through another surgery when it seems like Eli just had one. But at least we had more time to prepare ourselves since this was not an emergency like last time. Not five minutes after the doctor stepped out, he came back after re-reviewing Eli's past echocardiograms. He changed his mind and said another test wasn't necessary because the last two reports had shown a significant increase in size. He would call the surgeon today let me know when surgery was scheduled. A few minutes later, the surgeons office called Eli's nurse and told her surgery would be the next day at 10 am. The doctor also decided to have the broviac central line put in on Eli since the surgeon would already be here and he wasn't sure how much longer the picc line was going to last. We have learned the NICU team works very quickly and changes happen almost instantly.

As I looked down at the sleeping boy in my arms, I felt so sorry he had no idea what he would go through in the next 24 hours. I said a prayer and snuggled with Eli for the next hour knowing it would be several days before we could do this again. The nurse said Jason could come hold him that night. 

He was so cute and alert as Jason held him. Since Eli is over 1500 grams he can be held swaddled now. 

The next morning we arrived at the hospital at 9 to spend some time with Eli before surgery and meet with the surgeon and anesthesiologist. We felt very calm and assured the whole time and had confidence in the doctors and their decisions. I started feeling nervous once the surgeon started to explain all of the risks, but I knew they had to tell me everything that could possibly happen. They make an incision on the left side and have to open up the ribcage. Then they collapse the left lung so they can have access to the vessel and stitch it closed. The PDA is located next to major blood vessels, the heart and also a nerve that controls the vocal chords. The surgery is common for premature babies and our surgeon said he has never had any complications so that made me feel a little better. Once again we waited and waited. My sister called me to help pass the time. After just over an hour, the surgeon came in to talk to us. The surgery was successful and Eli did remarkably well! Such a big sigh of relief!! So happy that our little man made it through another bump in the road. 

Eli still has a lot of pain medication so he has been pretty quiet, but he is already breathing better after surgery. They've been able to turn down the percent oxygen he breathes and the rate the ventilator gives him breaths. They have also started feeding him already and he has been tolerating that well. 

Once again we are so grateful for your continued thoughts and prayers and the wonderful NICU staff!