He Is Out Of Surgery (Again)

For starters, all of Ethan's blood cultures and viral tests (RSV and such) have so far come back negative. The antibiotics appear to be helping, but as of this morning, Ethan is still running a fever. The good news is that he does not have to be in isolation any more and when he is ready, we can move back into the "good rooms".

As far as our morning went, Ethan went into the OR with our surgeon and the anesthesiologist (Dr. Evans) about 7:15 this morning. The surgery took only about an hour, and he is now back in the PICU to recover (we will hopefully be moved to the floor tomorrow).

Although on the surface, this may appear as a "small" surgery to drain the hematoma, this surgery really scared me. This is the first time that Ethan hasn't gone into a surgery "strong". I didn't like that he would have to go under anesthesia again when he is already recovering from last week's surgery and is also battling with some unknown infection (they still haven't ruled out pneumonia). Also, last night Dr. Kaza came to talk with us and told us that depending on where the bleed was, they might have to re-open his chest wall and flush around his heart. This would mean that he would basically be starting over with the chest tubes and recovery time. Needless to say, we feel very blessed that this was not the case this morning.

Dr. Kaza did have to re-open his chest incision but did not have to cut through his chest wall. The large blood clot was sitting on top of his sternum (which I was told was an odd place to have a bleed) but that there was no damage to the sternum itself. He also didn't think that there was any infection in the clot, but sent a sample to be cultured to be on the safe side. They flushed out the area really well and then closed him back up. They have placed a large pressure dressing on top of his chest to try and control the bleeding (they considered putting in a drain, but due to Ethan's combative history coming out of anesthesia, they opted to try the pressure dressing instead). Dr. Kaza said that after seeing the bleeding, that he is not surprised at how much pain Ethan has been in. I'm hoping that he will start feeling better now that this is taken care of and that they can find where the source of the infection is stemming from.

Tim and I have been able to go in the PICU to seem him and he looks pretty good. He is still very groggy but isn't currently too agitated or combative. I suspect that we will be here for a few more days until they can find and treat the infection, or until they've given him enough antibiotics and he remains fever free.

Again, we appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. This little guy has been through a lot.

---Allison