Alek update

Just wanted to update everyone and let you all know that Alek is recovering well from the surgery that he had yesterday. He was in surgery a little over 10 hours and had 80% of his colon taken out. The little guy is a trooper!! One hour after surgery he was trying to move his head around and was opening his eyes ( the Doctor said he wouldnt wake up for about 18 hours or so---so it surprised all of us when he did that!). He will not be able to eat anything at LEAST until Monday, so they have him on fluids, obviously, until then. He is doing a great job and Cj and I couldnt be more proud!! He is absolutly amazing. They had to do a pick line on him today....and of course...I was on edge the entire day because of it. Basically it is a longer and more invasive IV line. These lines are not the priary choice due to the high risk of vessel rupture. The line was inserted in the left arm, inside of the bicep and runs to the main arterial veins from the heart. These lines allo w for a more steady feed for the electrolites and bolis solution. The only downfall is that they do not allow for blood drawing so, there has to be a heel prick if the is anything being pulled for labs. I had never heard of this until today, so of course I was worried about it all day long. It was a steril procedure so we had to leave the room for it, and they called us when they were done. When we got back into NICU to see him, they had taken his oxygen tube out, which I was obviously ecstatic about! He was asleep, but comfortable. Which made me happy. :) We stayed for a while and then we decided to get some lunch because we realized we had not eaten in two days...and figured it might be a good idea to eat. So by the time we got something and came back he was awake. The first time since surgery he was really awake and alert. I asked him I could hold him and they said yes, so I sat for hours snuggiling with him! Which we both loved! The entire time I held him, he just layed there looking right back at me with his big brown eyes, completly content. It was quite possibly the best feeling ever. More good news, he had three bowel movements ( on his own) today. Everything is looking good and normal. The doctor did the entire procedure via laprascopic and only made 4 tiny incisions on his tummy. Very little scarring. We are extremely impressed with his team of Doctors and nurses ( which we like to call, Team Alek). Alek has definetly taught me a lot. He is only three weeks old and has been through more pain than I could imagine and he just keeps going and adapts to everything.

We will not be returning to Okinawa, at all. They are trying to get us stationed here in Hawaii so he can have his follow ups with the same doctors that did his surgery. For obvious reasons. We will know in a month or so. But we are definetly staying here in the states! If they cant get us here in Hawaii, it will either be Tucson or Las Vegas. But we will know for sure in a month or so. Thank you all so much for the thoughts and prayers! We appreciate everything!