Post Surgery Day 15

Ellie has had a so-so day today.  Good news - she looks like she has more energy today than yesterday and was more playful, sticking her legs up in the air and her feet in our faces so we could kiss her toes.  We heard her little voice as she let out a little cry and she seemed pretty content most of the night.  She was able to cough on her own and I think her congestion might be getting ever so slightly better.  She also finished being weaned off of the presedex.  Bad news - she is still draining quite alot of fluid from at least one of her chest tubes.  They say it can be two things: increased pressure or fats.  The fluid is starting to look milky so they are worried that it might be chyle (fats that are draining if they may have cut part of the thoracic duct during surgery). They did an ultrasound to check some of her major blood vessels to make sure the exchange of oxygen is occurring correctly.  They have put her on a different formula and some different lipids so hopefully the problem can resolve itself.  If it does not resolve over the weekend she will have to go back to surgery AGAIN to have them ligate the duct.  The other bad news is that she has been vomiting every 2-3 hours today.  The concerning thing is that she is throwing up bile.  If this were ever to happen at home we would have been very alarmed since we have been taught to look for green vomit.  It is a sign that her intestines might be twisted - a sign that she needs medical treatment promptly.  Luckily it is happening there and not at home and they have been monitoring her closely.  There are no other signs that her malrotation is starting to rotate at this point.  Part of this vomiting is brought on because she coughs and has a lot of mucous.  These are just a few of the many stumbling blocks that she has had to encounter on her way to a full recovery.  Overall she is still doing better, and looks even better than she did yesterday.