PDA Ligation

UPDATE:

The surgery went well and my son is now back in the ICU resting.  He has not woken up from the anesthesia yet, and is having some trouble with his blood pressure.  Right now, he is still on the ventilator, and is not getting feedings, just IV fluids.  Other than that, the nurse is just trying to help control the pain so that he can rest peacefully.  As the anesthesia wears off, they will begin to wean him off the ventilator, and continue to watch him to see when they can begin feeds again.  Hopefully within a day or two they will be able to move him back over to the progressive side of the unit.

Original Post: 

I apologize for being late with this update, but it has been a busy couple of days.  After consulting with three different cardiologists, our son's doctor decided that his PDA has gotten too bad, and is causing too much stress to his body to wait any longer.  He called the surgeon yesterday and now has surgery scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

Thankfully, to close the PDA will not require open heart surgery.  Instead, they are performing a ligation.  The surgeon will cut a small incision on his left side, go through his ribs and tie the blood vessel closed.  The total time in the operating room will be about an hour to an hour and a half, but the surgery itself should only be 30-45 minutes.  He will still have to be under general anesthesia, and received a blood transfusion today to get his blood count a little higher before getting the anesthesia and having surgery.

During and after the surgery he will be receiving IV fluids, will have a tube in his chest to help drain any excess fluids, and will also have to be put on a ventilator.  Hopefully, the surgery will go well and recovery will be quick (about a day or two).  Once he is recovered, he will begin working on feedings again, which I am anticipating going much better, and progressing much faster once his PDA is corrected.

Please be in prayer for my son, that he would handle the anesthesia well, and not have any complications, and that the surgery will correct all the challenges he has been facing for the past 71 days.  Please also pray for the doctors performing the surgery, and the nurses who will be caring for him during recovery.  Thank you so much, friends.  I will try to post an update tomorrow as soon as I am able.