Thursday night

Lalo has had a fairly good afternoon/evening. His ventilator settings have stayed at a good, consistent level. He was able to come back from surgery still on the conventional ventilator. This is good since babies will often need increased pulmonary support from either an oscillating ventilator or nitric oxide. He is only getting 30% percent oxygen, which everyone is happy about. The nicu attending and several of his other doctors have said they are happy with how he looks and how well he is doing. His blood gases have been drawn several times since surgery and each has been pretty good (shows how well he is oxygenating his blood and removing carbon dioxide).

We saw his chest xray immediately following surgery side by side with one from several days ago. It is amazing to see the difference. You will probably find them framed in our family room one day. At the very least we will have to include copies with a thank you to our health insurance company.

Unfortunately, Lalo has clearly been uncomfortable and in pain during his recovery so far. He was awake and aware soon after surgery and has since required several increases in his medication dosages. We are watching his blood pressure closely because it is a good indicator of how he feels. It is hard to watch him pain after all that he has been through, but his doctors/nurse are constantly monitoring him to try their best to control it.

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