Surgery is Happening Now!

This morning Matt and Eli were able to go on a Daddy and Eli Adventure Day! They went to Fairy Tale Town and had a picnic lunch in the park. I am so thankful they had that time together. Matt apparently wore Eli out because he said that Eli fell asleep on the car ride back to the Ronald McDonald House.

My mom and I went to the hospital to spend time with Ella, and by spending time, I mean sit in the waiting room 😀. I continued to feel discouraged and overwhelmed by everything that Ella is enduring. The weight of our current situation washed over me and I couldn't get out of my funk. My mom could tell I was struggling so we sat together and talked. We realized that we haven't done that in a long time, just her and I. It was a gift in the midst of my sadness.

After a little while, I went and talked with Ashley, the surgeon's assistant. She always makes me feel better about Ella's condition. I am so so so so so so so thankful for her. She explained to me that Ella was doing pretty well and everything that she is experiencing is relatively normal. There was just one thing that is abnormal...I was told this morning that Ella's liver enzymes were high and they were a little worried about it. There are a few reasons that this could be happening... damage to the liver from the compressions she needed a few mornings ago, the heart not functioning properly can lead to liver issues, and medication side effects (but the only med that they have given her that would effect the liver is Tylenol). They have found that Ella is really sensitive to anything they do so they think that it may have been a combination of the things. So they are going to continue to monitor this.

There were a lot of nurses in Ella's room today. They did a complete change out of her IVs. I'm not totally sure why they do that, but after seeing the picture of the wires from the last post, you can imagine that would take a long time! Ella is definitely keeping the nurses busy. I am so thankful for them.

This afternoon they decided that she is stable enough to do either a semi or complete closure of her chest!!! So Dr. Watanabe is doing that as I type. They started the surgery at 3:30pm in her room. It's amazing that they don't have to take her to an operating room. The surgeon said they want to also remove the clip that they put on yesterday and see how her body responds. They want to do this so that when she gets bigger in a month they won't have to go back in and remove the clip to get more blood to her lungs. It's a little confusing, I know 😊.  The semi or full closure means that she is stabilizing and we are getting closer to being able to be in the room with her and getting to bond with her again. I'll write a follow up post on how the surgery went.

Praise the Lord she will not remember any of this. She's already gone through so much and this is still the beginning. Our baby is a fighter!!!