**Reid update from Dad**
Since things seem to constantly change, I'll try and give a brief recap of what has transpired since Reid's initial surgery on December 12th.
On Dec. 12, we came in for Reid's VEPTR surgery to insert a titanium rod from his rib to his spine to help correct his scoliosis. All went well with that repair and it appeared that he was on his way to recovery. On Dec. 13, Reid was moved out of the PICU to the general surgery floor. On Dec 14, as Meredith was feeding Reid, she noticed that his belly was tight and distended. He was also having a bit more difficulty breathing. The thought was that maybe he was constipated and just needed some assistance to move things along. They transported him back to the PICU that night. On Dec. 15, doctors determined that Reid had a bowel obstruction, but they were unsure why. They were going to take him for a CT scan until the surgeon looked at his x-Ray and determined that Reid had reherniated from his initial CDH repair and that a portion of his bowel was protruding though his diaphragm possibly causing the obstruction. He scrapped the CT scan and scheduled emergency surgery that afternoon.
Reid went into surgery on Dec. 15 around 7:30 pm. Since it was a Sunday night, the normal surgery waiting procedures were not in place, so we were left in the empty surgery waiting area with infrequent updates. At around 8:45 pm, one of the nurses called and said that they had found the defect and were working on it. About an hour later, the surgeon came out in person to give us an update. He said that they had found the defect and the obstruction, but that due to all of the adhesions from Reid's previous surgeries and because of his large liver, he was having difficulty pulling the bowel down. He had started to make and incision where Reid's initial CDH surgery was, but realized he could not get around the liver. So he made another incision where Reid had his Nissen/g tube surgery last year. He was able to move some of Reid's bowel down, but he did not want to risk pulling on it and damaging it. So he was going to make another incision a little bit higher up on Reid's side to try and push his intestines down. That's the last we heard until about 2:30am on Dec. 16 when a nurse came out and said they were finishing up. At around 3:30 am, the surgeon came out and explained all that he accomplished and that it appeared to be a success.
They transported Reid back to the PICU for recovery, only this time, he was still intubated and on a ventilator. They explained that this was to give him a little bit of a break respiratory wise while he healed. He was doing well on the vent. Well enough that on Thursday, Dec 19, they decided to extubate him. Also, during this time he started spiking fevers. At first, they thought it was adenovirus, then a staph infection from being intubated. They also thought he was experiencing withdrawal symptoms from all if the narcotics he was on. His cough and fevers progressively got worse and on Sat Dec 28, his right lung collapsed and he was reintubated again. After a couple of days on a conventional vent, he went into respiratory failure and they decided to switch him to a VDR vent which acts as a precussor to loosen up the mucus in his chest. They switched to the VDR early on Dec. 30. This vent required him to be paralyzed, so they also placed him on a paralytic in addition to the sedation meds he was already on. He is still on the VDR and still paralyzed. They tried to switch back to the conventional vent today, but he did not tolerate the change, so they quickly switched him back to the VDR. He's also had a couple of bronchoscopes the past few days to try to remove any mucus plugs that may be in his lungs. The first was unsuccessful, but during the most recent they were able to clear his lungs a little bit. Now, it's just a waiting game. The docs seem to think that this is the result of a combination of 2 major surgeries in the span of a few days, his past history and pulmonary hypertension, and the adenovirus. Almost like a perfect storm in a sense. It's the same old story, two steps forward one step back, or sometimes two steps back. For now, we continue to live at the hospital and support Reid every step of the way. We are thankful for all the prayers, thoughts, support and strength that people continue to send us...we feel it and so does Reid. He is one loved little boy and his tenacity inspires us everyday.
