New Procedure

After Andrew had his hernia surgery, there was a large empty space between his tiny left lung and the new patch on the diaphragm. Over time, this area fills in with fluid. Since the blood cultures they took a few days ago came back negative for any infection, they want to make sure that there's no potential infection in his chest cavity. So today the doctor poked a tiny hole between his ribs with a needle and drew off some of the fluid. If it looked bad, they would've sucked out as much as they could, started him on a more specific antibiotic, and then let it fill back in with clear (healthy) fluid later. Fortunately, the first batch of fluid came out clear and normal-looking, so they just pulled enough for a culture and were done.

The rest of his numbers have looked good all day, and he even tolerated the chest draw without much of a fuss. He's weaned quite a bit on everything today...his pressure and amplitude are down, and his gases have still been fine. They turned up the oxygen for the procedure, but slowly weaned it back down from there. He's behaved really well the last few days...we'll see how long it can continue.