Post-op Day 1 Afternoon/Evening

Colby had a pretty good day today. He has experienced some minor "hiccups" but nothing too serious. He spiked a high fever mid-morning, and it has stayed up throughout the day. They are thinking it is just a post-op fever and nothing to worry about, but they are checking for infection just to be on the safe side. It has come down a lot in the last hour or two and is almost back to normal. Hopefully it will stay down!

Breathing difficulties has been another problem for Colby today. Around lunch, he was working really hard to breathe and his sats dropped to lower 70s. To help with this, they increased his oxygen by putting him on vapotherm rather than a standard nasal cannula. After an hour or so, there was no improvement, so they decided to try a c-pap machine. Colby is definitely not a fan of the c-pap! He was fighting the machine and making the alarm (very loud beeping) go off every other breath. When the respiratory therapist finally got tired of hearing the beeps, she convinced the doctors to go back to the vapotherm on the highest setting. This has worked nicely so far.

Colby is a little swollen right now, so the doctors have started him on a Lasix drip. Lasix is a diuretic and will help get some of the fluids off. Swelling is definitely one of those things that we we were prepared for this time. After his BT Shunt, he looked like the stay puff marshmallow.

So, as I was working on this post, the doctors did their rounds. The plan for the night is:

• start slowly cutting back on his oxygen.
• give him some additional blood, because his red blood cell count is a little low (Hopefully the blood will also help with his oxygen level, since his sats are back in the low 70s right now)
• let him try to drink some whole milk since he has tolerated apple juice well today
• continue watching blood pressure (may need to increase his Enalapril dose again tomorrow in order to keep his blood pressure down where it needs to be)

We are so happy that today has gone as well as it has. Colby amazes us with his strength!! We pray that he continues to improve and we don't face any unexpected challenges in the next few days. Thank you for all of your prayers! Please keep them coming.

This is the C-pap machine. I can't really blame him for not liking it!

Sleeping so peacefully right now...I love seeing this!!

Jason and I were lucky enough to get a sleep room again tonight! I am so happy that we don't have to leave the hospital. It may be like a closet, but at least it is a private place to sleep and shower.