Surgery Update

He's now 32 hours post-op and still with us He's pretty swollen and having alot of respiratory issues. He is on very high vent settings, but his oxygen rate is down from 100% to 70% at this time. The alveoli in his lungs keep collapsing.. he's getting albuterol, chest percussion therapy, and suctioning, changes in position to accomadate.. all for that. He dropped really low this morning and they began bagging him but nothing was helping so they ended up reintubating him (other had come out of place). His blood pressures have remained stable since surgery. His blood gasses have been better all day (not perfect , but better than yesterday). The surgery:He went in for surgery at 10:40am yesterday. At noon they had just finished placing the central line and were beginning the abdominal surgery. They had trouble getting the central line in anywhere, tried 3 times on his left chest wall, then once to the right chest wall, and ended up with it in the right side of his neck. The surgery then lasted til about 2:30pm. (total of 4 hours for both). It ends up the intestine at the mucous fistula was all massed and needed to be removed. There was a portion that was dilated to about the diameter of an egg, instead of a small pen as it should be that needed to be removed as well. They think this area was the initial problem and that it may have even been a congenital defect. They also thing that since the infection in this area couldn't come out up or down, it was making him sick all the time with infections and such. They removed the two sections, a total of approximately 1 1/2 feet (or 45cm) of intestine. This was equal to between 20 and 25% of his intestines. They also repaired two perforations. They removed his appendix while in there as well and repaired an umbilical hernia. The physician stated that a child can actually have 75% removed and still go on normally, just not more than that. He got to keep 75% of his!!! They say as long as he heals and the intestines don't start to leak, he should be okay. We just have to get him to pull through this aftermath and he should be okay. He has a big incision across his abdomen. Hopefully in the next couple of days the fluid will start coming off and that will help with the respiratory issues, then maybe start weaning down some vent settings. I'm amazed at the news of repairing his intestines... i really honestly wasn't expecting to hear that. We definitely cried happy tears of relief when the surgicall nurse called mid surgery to tell us they were saving most of his intestines. Thank you all for being here for me, & for praying for Ian. I'm gonna head to bed so i can get up early and go back to the hospital. We are not yet in the clear, but the sky is getting a bit less cloudy HUGS!!