Eli's surgery is set for Tuesday, Jan 21. He'll be the second case of the day behind what is expected to be a short case. All that means is that we don't have an exact time for him to go. We're guessing between 10 and 11am.
His third culture (drawn the 15th) has remained negative so that is good news. His stomach seems to be feeling better as well since he finished his round of Rifampin (antibiotic added to his regimen to help the other antibiotic penetrate through to bone). Because he still has the nagging cough he came in with, we're trying Albuterol breathing treatments twice a day. He does well getting them and it seems to break loose some junk in his upper chest because his cough sounds more productive. We'd love for that to be gone before surgery!
Right now his big issue is sleep. He doesn't want to. He always turns into a night owl when hospitalized and I'm really trying to fight that (at least before surgery). Last night he didn't give up until after midnight. Tonight I finally got him to sleep by 11. Yes, that is a victory for me although it's by the slimmest of margins!
Tomorrow Eli will have an ultrasound of his femoral arteries (large arteries in his upper legs) to make sure there are no growth issues or blood clots present. Part of that is to ensure they would have access to those vessels if they need them for central lines for his procedure and part of it is in case they decide to use some of Eli's own vessels to construct the Fontan circulation.
We'll have more info in the coming days about what to expect during this surgery. A lot of it won't be known until Dr. Abraham actually gets in there. Once opened up and able to view the vessels themselves, he'll be able to see what other damage has been done by the infection.
Specific Prayer Requests:
- for Eli to remain healthy and get even better before surgery
- for Zachary as we try to explain Eli having another surgery. It's so hard to balance an appropriate dose of reality for a six year old without frightening him. Especially when his nighttime prayer the other night included "God bless that Eli doesn't die"
- for Eli's mental health. This isn't his first rodeo and the kid picks up on the slightest thing here in the hospital. We're now having to deal with trying to explain more to him. Again, he deserves the truth but how to balance that reality without scaring him?
- for our nerves as we approach surgery. I can't speak for Bryan, but I was dealing okay when we didn't have a date set. Now we do and the mental countdown is on. I've nearly got it down to the hour without thinking about it
- for all of us as we try to have some fun together this weekend and not let ourselves be stressed out by what we can't control
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