Calm Night

Elias has appeared to calm down with the episodes, we only had a few for the day thank God. He is still on 100% oxygen and it seems like he will require that through the surgery next Wednesday. He is still uncomfortable, but there is really nothing more they can do without serious intervention and that is a road they would rather not travel if it all possible. That is the difficult part. Sitting here watching him struggle. He is sleeping a lot and that is probably the best right now. Last night after everything else that went on we discovered blood around the G-tube stoma and also the mucus fistula of his colostomy. The doctors looked at it were unable to determine the cause and basically told the nurse to just monitor it. I think that is always the first answer about any problem lately, we have heard that so much. This morning it does look better and there is less blood, so that is a positive.

A nurse practitioner from the cardiac surgery team came by late yesterday afternoon to make sure we had heard about the date and time for Elias surgery. She also told us that Monday they would do standard pre-surgery blood work-ups and when they came by for us to sign consent Dr. Manning, the cardiac surgeon would be able to explain exactly how he plans to do things or at least the plans A, B, C, and D etc. Dr. Rutter, Elias’ FA ENT doctor will also be in the operating room. The FA team is aware of this surgery and has already had a meeting to ensure that things go smoothly for Elias from their standpoint. The FA endocrinologist wants Elias to get hydrocortisone before surgery to help his body manage the stress. She felt it very important considering the incredible amount of stress Elias’ body is under day to day with his issues, but also the extra stress from the surgeries, tests, and procedures the last five weeks. Knowing that the surgery is Wednesday we are mentally preparing not only for the stress and worry of that, but also for at least another nine or ten days admitted.