Cannulae Removed

Josiah's cannulae were removed this morning.  Each cannula had been left in his chest after his last surgery so that if he needed to be hooked up to ECMO it wouldn't take as long.  This was a sterile procedure done by a surgeon in Josiah's room.

All of Josiah's numbers look good except for his high heart rate.  I think it was around 180 when I left him.  His oxygen rate on the ventilator is the same as room air - 21%, so that's good news as well.  He has secretions in his lungs that need to be suctioned but it's hard to get them up as he can't cough them up because he is on muscle relaxant.  The nurses put saline down his tube to help with suctioning.  Thankfully the secretions don't show any sign of infection.  We thank the Lord that Josiah hasn't had any infections due to his stay in the CCCU.

An infection is one of the risks of having an open chest.  We've received some emails asking if Josiah's chest is still open.  It is open with a transparent covering.  A piece of gauze just sits on top.  It's amazing to be able to see his heart pumping.  The nurse said he needs to get rid of more of his fluid before they'll close up his chest.  When they do close up his chest, a surgical fellow will sew him up in his room.  When these sterile procedures happen, all of the parents and visitors of any of the children in the room must be absent from the room.

Josiah's surgeon has been on holiday.  In fact I believe the holiday started late due to Josiah.  Our nurse told me that the surgeon has called the last two days to see how Josiah is doing.  I also learned that two other heart surgeries were bumped last Wednesday due to Josiah's surgery.  Some of the nurses were able to watch some of Josiah's surgery as the surgeon wears a video camera that provides a live feed to the nursing station.  This allows the nurses to know when to expect patients out of the OR.

My brother and sister-in-law and their wonderful girls came and blessed us with their presence and a delicious dinner.  Both my brother and sister-in-law were able to see Josiah just before nursing change.  It was great to see them all.

We enjoyed being at St. George the Martyr church this morning.  We finally made it on time to a service - it started at 10:45.  It was around a ten minute walk from RMH.  How lovely to be able to walk to church.     

I'm writing this in the washroom as the lights are off in the main room and I don't want to wake Isaac.  Isaac did not sleep very well last night.  He slept so lightly that we couldn't put him in the playpen so he "slept" between us.  He's been in the playpen thus far tonight so hopefully we won't hear him until the morning. 

Thank you for your prayers!

Blessings,

Elizabeth