Bryan and Zachary woke up at 3am on the 24th so they could be here in time to see Eli prior to surgery. Well, I should say that Zachary woke up when the alarm went off at 3 and told Bryan he was supposed to get in the shower so they could leave. The boy stayed awake the whole ride to Indy, through the surgery and getting to see Eli in the PICU, and even went to the Children's Museum with Mamaw Linda, Aunt Judy & Aunt Kendra for the afternoon. He fell asleep on the way back to the hospital but woke in the parking lot. He didn't go to bed until after 11:30 once he & I were settled at Aunt Ashley & Josh's house for the night. It took 40 minutes to get him up Saturday morning (after he slept for 11+ hours!). Poor kid! Right now, he & Bryan are in Louisville at a baseball game. Pics of their adventures to come in a later post!
Eli's surgery went just fine. Dr. Abraham said he took a lot of fluid off when he got in there and then he tacked down the right side of the diaphragm. The actual operation only took about 45-60 minutes. Eli was in the OR for about 45 minutes before the procedure started so they could get him to sleep, intubate, scrub the surgical area, etc. When he left the OR he was taken to the PICU for recovery. When we talked to Dr. Abraham postoperatively, he said that he hopes this will eliminate Eli's need for supplemental oxygen and another chest tube. Eli does have a JP drain in place to drain the fluid accumulating due to surgery. He'll have another chest x-ray Monday morning to check for fluid.
He spent the night in the PICU. At first he wasn't peeing on his own. They had to straight cath him once (straight cath = inserting a catheter into the bladder to drain the urine then withdrawing the catheter. It doesn't stay anchored in place to continually drain). He did start peeing on his own and has been doing well on that front. Our issue now is that he really needs to poop. His belly is very distended (his belly button is totally flat). He doesn't want to eat or drink anything, not that we blame him. He's actually vomited a small amount because his abdomen is so full. This shouldn't be due to pain meds because he's not getting anything new to him. Since surgery he's had 4 doses of morphine and a couple doses of Ibuprofen. He's been given Miralax and a suppository with orders to repeat those tonight if he doesn't have a bowel movement.
Around 5pm we were moved out of the PICU back to our dorm room on the third floor. That's what I'm calling it now. As we left the PICU for the fourth time this admission, I told them we wanted this to be goodBYE. We're so grateful they're available to us, but we're tired of being there! We were told only to come back to visit so I'm happy to say the feeling is mutual! Several nurses & docs stopped in Eli's room yesterday because they were shocked to find out he was still in the hospital.
Specific prayer requests:
- please pray for this diaphragm surgery to be the turnaround Eli needs to get over the final hurdles before he can be discharged.
- pray that he doesn't accumulate fluid on his lungs
- pray that he can wean completely off the oxygen
- pray for Bryan and Zachary to have a wonderful time at the baseball game and for a safe trip as they leave Louisville to come back to Indy tonight
Thank you all so much! Hope you're having a wonderful holiday weekend despite the chillier than usual temps. We'll make our own holiday weekend once the four (five if you count our doggie who's been boarding at my Mom's since mid-April...he may not want to come back home!) are back home together!!!!!!
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