11/13 (Wednesday) - Surgery

Wednesday was surgery day and that morning we learned they hoped to take him around 3:00.  All day he received tests to prepare him for surgery.  It was very hard to watch them do things like draw blood from his head because it was the only place to find a good vein :(. Around 2:00 they came and got him from his room and put him in a transferable incubator. They manually continued to ventilate him.  It was super hard to say good-bye to our tiny baby as they wheeled him off.  We sat in a special waiting room just for surgeries and received a pager (like from a restaurant) that was supposed to go off when the surgery team was able to chat.  After 2 long hours of surgery they took us in a little room to talk to the surgeon. He said everything went as well as could be expected and he was pleased with the outcome so far :). The esophagus was stretched to meet the stomach and the two were attached. The link between the stomach and airway was also sealed off. It was a huge relief for Ter and I to make it over the surgery huddle.  The surgery was performed through the right side of Leo's rib cage and a chest tube remains for drainage. As part of the surgery, a tube was also placed in Leo's nose and through his new esophagus to reach his tummy.  The tube is used to feed him until his repaired esophagus is ready to handle the food directly.  The surgery does have a pretty high risk of complications. About 20% of TE fistulas repairs leak.  On Wednesday (a week later) they will run blue die down Leo's repaired esophagus to check for leaks.  If one is found, they wait longer to see if it will heal on its own. There is also risk of damage to the vocal cords which can cause a restricted airway and lead to long-term use of a tracheotomy. We will have to pray none of these outcomes occur, but it is really just a waiting game. We each got a chance to hold him before surgery.  It was so special!