Nose Surgery Update

Thursday, April 7, 2009 - Dr. Stayor, the CV anesthesiologist and Dr. Edmonds came to get Elle at 6:45pm. She was so grumpy because she hadn't eaten anything since 9:00am this morning! Lee and I walked her down to surgery with Dr. Stayor and Dr. Edmonds, we kissed her goodbye and Dr. Edmonds showed us into the waiting room. In two hours, Dr. Edmonds should be finished with Elle's first nose job.

8:10pm - We just got an update from the operating room - Dr. Edmonds is putting the stints in right now - everything is going good.

9:00pm - We got news from the operating room that Dr. Edmonds has successfully inserted the two stints.

9:40pm - Dr. Edmonds came out to talk to us after surgery. He said that everything went well. He was able to drill the two holes where he needed to drill them and insert the stints. He even gave us pictures of the blockages. The only problem he had was that when he was trying to put the stints in, one side is bigger than the other. He wanted to put in 3mm stints in both nostrils but instead had to put in 2.5 mm stints. He said he worked on that for an hour trying to get it perfect. Other than the issue with wanting to put in 3mm stints and instead having to put in 2.5 mm stints - he said the surgery was a success. Elle did good with the anesthesia and will remain knocked out until tomorrow.

10:00pm - We all went upstairs to see our baby. When we walked into the NICU, one of the cardiac nurses was their waiting for Lee and me. She said that they were working on Elle's breathing tube and we needed to wait in the lobby. It wasn't an emergency situation - but the nurses didn't want us to be back there since they were messing with the breathing tube. Dr. Edmonds said that they might be able to take the breathing tube out tomorrow to test Elle's ability to breathe out of her nose. That will be up to the cardiologist and neonatologists to decide. Elle will be on morphine every 3 hours to keep her out of pain. Her little toes were starting to twitch when we were leaving at midnight tonight. She looked so tiny being completely sedated. The nurse would lift up her arm and it would just drop limp. I think that is the part I am most concerned about - her coming out of the anesthesia. She had such a difficult time last tim

e coming out of it and I am praying that doesn't happen again. We have a wonderful nurse tonight, so I am confident Elle will be taken care of tonight!