2/8

I apologize that it took me some time to report back. Yesterday was a long day for us. After we took Peyton down around 6:30 they took him back to get his IV's in place, etc. He ended up having multiple IV's and two arterial lines. Peyton was in surgery for about nine hours and they informed us that it was a very efficient surgery. We sat down with Dr. Jennings around 4:30 to go over what was accomplished. They bronched him first to look at his airway. From there they made their incision using his scar from the TE Fistula surgery. Dr. Jennings and team removed some scar tissue. They were surprised at the amount of secretion in his lungs which they were able to clear a lot of. They began by repairing part of the TE Fistula surgery. They then removed a suture that was left over from the TE Fistula and replaced it with a much smaller one because it was impeding on the airway. After that they removed a pouch that had formed in his trachea that if intubated and not knowing it was there could be quite problematic. They then went on to attach the posterior part of the trachea to his spinal column in order to open his airway. Peyton was given a blood transfusion during the surgery due to the blood loss which they informed us is normal and they were prepared for. After they closed Peyton up they inserted a paravertebral catheter which administers a bolus of local anesthetic to help with pain. Peyton was then brought up to the ICU where we were able to go and see him. He has a breathing tube and another tube in to remove the leftover secretions in his lungs. After completing an x-ray they have decided to keep him intubated until tomorrow because once they remove the tubes he is on his own. They feel that it is in Peyton's best interest to keep them in to remove as much fluid as possible. He has been pretty feisty this morning with moving around so on top of the morphine and other pain drugs being administered they have started him on dexmedetomidine in order to help keep him still. They are hoping to extubate him tomorrow. I will keep you posted as we know more.