Day 1 Post Op Fontan, 04/18/13

Eli had a very good night.  He was easily agitated (again, agitated = pi**ed off).  Some of that was due to the anesthetic wearing off.  It made him very jumpy.  Sometimes, even when he was sleeping well, his body would twitch or jerk and that would hurt and wake him up which resulted in a very sad cry.  We had his lullaby cd playing non-stop from 7pm last night to 10 this morning.

So far today he has been seen by a cardiologist, a cardiology resident, the surgical nurse practitioner, the surgeon, the hospital intensivist, and another resident.  Of course none of those exams coincided with the others so he's been examined by six doctors so far today plus his nurse has to examine him every two hours.  But that's why we're here and everyone is pleased with how he's doing.  His nurse today is Brittni, who is probably our favorite nurse through the past two and a half years.  She is so excited to see him and can't believe how much he's grown from a baby into a little boy.

Chest x-ray this morning showed some fluid on his lungs.  That is not surprising at all and a diuretic has been started to help get rid of that fluid.  Eli's face, legs and feet are swollen too and you can hear crackles in his lungs.  The Lasix should help with all that.  He'll have another chest xray tomorrow morning to show if the diuretics are working.  If not, they may have to take other measures (for example, a chest tube to drain the fluid from the lungs). 

His oxygen has been weaned down to .25L and his sats are low to mid 90s.  If the oxygen is turned off he drops to the low 80s so for now he'll stay on oxygen.  His fingers and toes are still very pink which is just amazing to see.

Eli's pacemaker is set at 120 beats per minute.  After surgery it was 150 bpm, but was turned down after his other vitals stabilized.  Dr. Steinberg will keep adjusting it over the next few days to get the right settings for Eli. 

Eli's urinary catheter was taken out this morning and he was able to get rid of the machine that monitors oxygenated blood flow to his brain and kidneys.  Two of the IV drips he was on have been stopped.  One was to help his blood pressure, which has been stable.  The other was one of his pain meds.  He's very sleepy today and not waking up much, so they want him to start waking up a little.  He's still got one continuous pain med through his IV and then some we can give as needed.  So far we haven't needed to use that one.  Slowly he's getting rid of some of the equipment

He's been doing so well that there's actually talk of him being moved out of the PICU tomorrow or Sat.  There are many things that have to occur before that move happens, but just the fact they can even think about moving him from the PICU is exciting.  

If anyone is wants to send cards to the boys, all four of us would love it.  If you already have our home address, feel free to use it.  Message me via email or FB if you want it, or send it to

Zachary and/or Eli Veale
201 East Main Street
Suite 401
Washington, IN  47501

Thank you all for your prayers, messages of encouragement, and concern.  We feel so loved!