Mitchell's First Christmas

Mitchell Christmas Eve


Mitchell's First Present
Barn & Farm Animals from Grandma Huff


Christmas Morning
Special Present from Grandma Holz


Mitchell & his bear

Cardiology Appointment

Mitchell's appointment went well today.
His weight was down a bit compared to pre-op; but better than when we left the hospital last week. We will continue to work on the total volume of his feedings; hoping to see improvement with his tolerance.
His oxygen saturation peaked at 88%, and his blood pressure was a little elevated. The medication he was on prior to the last surgery was not restarted. We will follow-up with a weight and blood pressure check next week, but he is not due for another echocardiogram for 6 weeks.
Thank you for your continued encouragement.
We are happy to be home & looking forward to Mitchell's first Christmas!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Sunday before Christmas

Mitchell 7 months today



I came to the blog to update & realized we're a little behind.
We came home Tuesday. Once he recovered regarding his fluid balance, things moved along quickly. Other than a detour from flooding, we made good time and were waiting for Madison when she got home from school.
We are due to see the surgeon in Atlanta to follow-up next month; and our Cardiologist will be watching the stent in his Pulmonary Artery that will need to be dilated in the Cath lab at some point. His next surgery is estimated at 18-36 months.
Thank you to everyone who has faithfully prayed for Mitchell.
His hospitalizations have all been a bit stressful, and it takes a little time to recoup once we are home; but we have so much to be thankful for!

Home tomorrow

Mitchell was transferred to Step Down yesterday afternoon.
He is now on his home regimen for his diuretic medication, and he hasn't required blood pressure medication since 2 pm yesterday.
His feedings are continuous right now and will be for about a month; they don't want to risk added pressure to his new fundoplication. He is tolerating OK, but still sensitive to the volume. His new fundo wrap is actually a little lower than the previous, so technically less stomach volume. He seems to get full and try to reflux. We are hoping to manage with adequate nutrition, but prevent a repeated herniation. Things have healed nicely. The plan is to come back in 3-4 weeks to follow-up with his general surgeon in the office.
Now that things have stabilized with his fluid balance, we are planning to go home. Cardiology has tentatively cleared him to leave tomorrow. We can manage his feedings and some potential medication changes with his cardiologist in Pensacola.
Thanks for your prayers for Mitchell. As usual, he had some stressful circumstances. We are thankful for the grace of God as we face them.
We are looking forward to getting home to our girls.
Thanks to mom, Juliane, Becky, Shawnna & Kelly for entertaining them. They have had quite the fun-filled week.

Post op Day 3

Mitchell is still in CICU, but making progress.
The biggest concern right now is his Blood Pressure; He is requiring a fairly substantial dose of BP medication every 6 hours.
His fluid balance has improved. Since Friday morning, he has been on 2-3 different diuretic medications. I just checked in, and the in-house physician fellow has discontinued 1 of the 3 as he has made progress. His oxygen saturations are adequate on a little oxygen support via nasal cannula.
His blood count had been low since Friday early afternoon related to some bleeding from 1 of his surgical sites. They did not want to transfuse him at that time; it remained low yesterday; but now that he has gotten rid of a lot of his extra fluid (which dilutes the blood), his count is back up.
Happy to see progress- less puffy, less pale; breathing more easily.
Hoping to see progress with his blood pressure.
His feedings are up to his goal of 25 cc/hr; currently a lower concentration than his usual. They have taken things slowly. Other than some occasional coughing (that they think could be related to the feeding tolerance), he has tolerated it quite well.
Thank you to everyone praying for Mitchell!

Post-Op Day 1

We have learned that nothing is simple with Mitchell. He seems to make even the "minor" things significant.
We were very happy to see his breathing tube removed; he's not a fan of waking up to the ventilator. He has been off of it and on regular nasal oxygen since about 9 last night.
He is still in the CICU due to some issues with fluid balance and high blood pressure. We are hoping to see progress as the diuretic medication helps him to remove some of the fluid. As things progress, they will work on weaning his IV medication.
His oxygen saturation has been adequate on 1 Liter of Oxygen; however, he does have some inflammation from the breathing tube, and they have ordered a few doses of a steroid medication. They also ordered a breathing treatment related to some respiratory wheezing.
He had some bleeding from one of his procedures, and his blood count is low. They will recheck his labs in the morning and determine if he will require a transfusion.
An echocardiogram revealed a small effusion (fluid) around his heart. It is small and should not create a problem, but they will keep an eye on it.
We are hoping to see some improvement with his current treatment regimen.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Out of Surgery

Mitchell is out of surgery and heading to CICU; we are hoping to see him in about 45 minutes. His doctor said that everything went well.
Thank you for your messages/calls & prayers for Mitchell.

Surgery

We were with Mitchell until about 30 minutes ago. Anesthesia took him to prep for surgery. Anticipate surgery starting in about 30 minutes.

SurgeryTomorrow

We are scheduled to be back at the hospital at 6 a.m. Eastern. We expect that he will go back for prep about 7. We anticipate about 2 hours for his surgery, then he will go to the CICU for recovery.
We will update as we have news.
Thank you for remembering Mitchell tomorrow.

Upcoming Surgery

We will be leaving for Atlanta early in the morning. Mitchell has a pre-op appointment at the hospital followed by a visit to the General Surgeon. His hernia surgery is scheduled for Thursday.
Things have been going well. We are happy to see Mitchell more comfortable and tolerating his feedings better.
As of Monday, he weighed 13 lbs. 7 oz. Despite his intolerance to "adequate" volume, he has gained weight. We anticipate that he will be able to tolerate an increased amount of formula after his hernia is repaired.
His appointment also included an echocardiogram- his heart function looks good, and his oxygen saturation was as high as 90. However, his cardiologist noted that the stent in his pulmonary artery may be too small. She will keep an eye on this, but he may require another visit to the cath lab to place a larger stent.
We appreciate your prayers for Mitchell as he has surgery Thursday; we will update once we have a scheduled time.