Post-Op Day 2

When we saw Ethan this morning we barely recognized him because he is so swollen because of all the fluids he's being given...TPN, lipids, morphine, midazolam, D5W, saline, and probably a few others that I'm forgetting....but he's still a cutie even though he's so puffy.

Auntie Tracy was working again today and keeping an eye on Ethan, even though he wasn't her patient. And she also made sure to hand-pick our night nurse so we get the best! :)

We got to the hospital this morning in time to be there for rounds. Basically, they discuss the events of the previous 24 hours and come up with a plan for the day, each person who plays a part in Ethan's care (nurses, respiratory therapist, resident, doctor, pharmacist, surgeon, etc, etc) takes a turn. Due to the extensive Brady (pronounces brad-ee), morphine, midazolam, and paralyzing drug required the breathing machine was turned up so it was breathing for Ethan, rather than him breathing on his own and this continued throughout the day. His morphine was increased to manage pain. They were also giving him platelettes and Vitamin K so his blood clotting abilities would increase so they could give him an epidural to help with the pain over the next few days....unfortunately his numbers didn't come up enough, so he will have more vitamin K and the blood test will be redone at 6:00am tomorrow. He was also started on antibiotics because his tummy around the incision site was becoming pink and they don't want to risk him getting an infection because the bowels contain large amounts of bacteria. His tummy is getting bigger, but it looks different than it did pre-surgery and the surgeon said he expected the swelling and isn't overly concerned about it.

Later in the day, Ethan's pain medication was changed from morphine to fentynol (sp?) to see if that will help and they started giving him regular doses of Tylenol. He has also been put on a medication to help his organ absorb some of the fluid that is hanging around in his body.

Dr Milbrant paid us a visit today and put us a little more at ease. Ethan had had a couple of Brady's throughout the day, but the doctor said he expected that and that he's doing everything that they expected, although scary, the doctor is confident that Ethan will fully recover from all of this....one nurse described it as a long and bumpy road, but he'll get there one day.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things or possibly mixing up the minor detals, but that's about all I can remember. We still have no idea how long Ethan will be in the hospital and the end doesn't really seem to be in sight yet.