Almost there!

Most of you know that Elijah's surgery to correct pyloric stenosis was successful....so why is he still there??

He has been having difficulties with his oxygen intake levels and has been on and off of oxygen. With both surgeries Elijah had to be intubated(placing a tube down his throat to assist with his breathing) and because of that his lungs were not fully expanding. There was a part in his right lung that did not fully expand and it created a plug of mucus. The respitory therapist started working with him to see if they could loosen the plug up enough to get him to cough it out. The mucus then shifted to his left lung. Yesterday afternoon the neonatalogists decided to intubate him again and force extra air into his lungs to "pop" the mucus plug out of there. The x-rays this morning showed that it was successful. Also yesterday they gave him a blood transfusion. Red blood cells carry oxygen in them and an infants red bloods cells usually last 60 days and die off. Well, Elijah has not been strong enough to reproduce his red blood cells, so they gave him the transfusion. The blood cells from the transfusion should last 90-100 days, and the doctors are hoping that by then he will be strong enough to regenerate his own. They are running an oxygen test on him today and are hoping that the procedures done to him should be enough. If he is still having issues with his oxygen intake he may have to come home with an oxygen tank. We should know more tomorrow.