Update 1-16-10 after surgery

Ella continues to do well and is in stable condition. She is very sleepy and continues to receive pain medicine. She only wants to lay on her back and lets her nurses know that she does not want to be moved, especially to lay on her tummy. They hope to take out the breathing tube later tonight (Saturday, 1-16-10) if her 8pm lab work is good. She will be put back on the C Pap breathing . She continues to be on 21% oxygen. They have lowered the amount of pain medicine that she receives and will continue to lower it. Her 2pm labs today were good and when I called this evening, she continues to do well and was sleeping comfortably.

Someone asked me how exactly they did the surgery. They actually did the PDA surgery right in her NICU room and the PDA team, surgeon and his assistant, anesthesiologist, and others all came to her. They said that is a "blood-less" surgery. They made an incision on her left side up by her heart. They actual move two of her ribs up out of the way (her ribs are very flexible right now )and go in through that space to perform the surgery. The surgeons part took only about 10 minutes. There are NICU nurses on the PDA team that are trained just for this type of surgery. She has had one on one care since her surgery and her (Ella's) roommate will hopefully be moved back into her room tomorrow.

Thanks for your prayers. We can feel them!! We hope for more good posts in the days head...