Surgery

"Bye-bye nose tube" They even gave Ellen a little gown to wear before her surgery

We returned from our follow-up visits at PCMC last Friday, and drove up again late last night for Ellen to get a few surgeries. We finally conceded that a G-Tube/Nissen will be the best thing for Ellen right now. Although in many ways, she is improving, her feeding is not improving quickly enough. In addition, there is still a concern that she is too weak to protect her airway from Reflux. After seeing how difficult it was for her to manage her secretions while she had a cold, I feel like this is the safest and best thing for her.

ENT is also doing a surgery to help with a mild case of laryngeal malaysia. This will help her breathing (we hope). We are currently sitting and anxiously waiting. The surgeries could take 4 hours. It has been 2. After surgery, while she is still sedated, Neurology will perform another EMG. This will test the nerves to see how much her brachial plexus injury has improved. We already know it has. Just this morning she lifted both arms up nearly to her face all on her own! This is HUGE! We have been working and working with her to lift her arms. We are so proud of our baby girl. She has been through so much.

She will probably be intubated for at least 24 hours after surgery. Our biggest concern is that it will be difficult for her to breathe on her own again after this. Please send happy thoughts and prayers her way...