Day Two

Twenty-four hours removed from surgery, Ayden is doing pretty well. He was extubated at around midnight this morning and has stayed that way. To my untrained eye, his morning x-ray looked pretty decent, especially given he had really been on diuretics at the time it was taken. It's unquestionably a lot better than any of the first several x-rays after the Glenn. We've ditched some medications that would prevent him from going to the floor. He's been sitting up quite a bit so far today, which helps so many things. At one point, he tried to stand up, which, while admirable, isn't really helpful right now. He's even drinking water and water mixed with juice. (We've been taking it somewhat slow with the fluid, so he's been getting mad at us when we stop giving it to him.)

There are/were some issues, of course. His elecrtolytes were a little out of whack. His blood pressure hung out on the low end for quite a while yesterday afternoon. As usual, he's been hard to get comfortable. Most of these issues have been resolved. The one I find most troubling is an arrythymia "problem." I won't even bother to attempt to explain the nature of the issue because I don't understand this electrophysiology stuff at all. I'll summarize by simply saying his heart rate is lower than desirable because the rhythym is off. Given his history, this kinda sorta freaks me out, but they assure me this is common after the Fontan and is usually temporary. I truly hope they are right.

Again, though, there is very little to complain about, overall. He's doing some very positive things that not all kids will do this early after surgery. Most importantly, we are making progress. There's not much more I can ask for than that.