It has been 3 days since John’s big surgery and everyone is very pleased with his progress. We’ve been successfully weaning his oxygen. He been on the baby ventilator which delivers lots of pressure and oxygen via a nasal cannula. We’ve weaned this down to almost room air equivalent (21%) and his work of breathing still looks phenomenal. We should be past the worst of the swelling and the plan is to remove the stents probably on Thursday, 1 week postop. 

ENT Thinks the support he’s needing is secondary to the aspiration events prior to surgery and not the surgery itself. They’re switching machines again so that he can keep humidified oxygen with less support (only one type of cannula works with the stents and it only connects to certain machines so it’s another logistical issue.)

He is still getting his tube feeds, which may need adjusted since he is actually losing weight from all the work he’s had to do just to breathe. They’ve started adding formula to the breastmilk to increase the calories to help maintain (or gain) weight. Since he’s had aspiration issues, he will have to get a formal swallow study under x ray to triple check he isn’t aspirating. This will be done once his oxygen requirement is close to (or at) zero. 

We still have some miles to go but making lots of tiny steps in the right direction. We feel everyone’s prayers and are constantly in awe of how much fight this tiny 6 pound boy has. John has conquered almost every obstacle (and we’ve had many) and we’re thanking God for all our answered prayers.