After the surgery Dr. M came down to the waiting room himself to give us the news that Brian did great. The doctors were prepared to increase the vent and had blood pressure medicine ready, neither of which were necessary. For now Brian is not back on the jet vent and the regular vent support has only been slightly increased.

The procedure Brian had is called a thoracic duct ligation. If I understand correctly there were two parts to the surgery. The first step was to clamp off the source of the leak. The second step is a little more difficult to understand. There is a thin layer covering the lungs and coating the inside of the chest wall. Normally there is a very small amount of fluid between these layers which allow the lungs to move freely inside the chest. Brian's condition caused the fluid to accumulate in this spot causing his lung to collapse. The doctors pealed back a small piece of this layer from the lung and the chest wall. The spots will scar together preventing the fluid from accumulating again. The doctors are still a little concerned because Brian has a small amount of fluid on the left side of his chest. There is a possibility the leak could redirect to the the left side which would mean another surgery. If all continues to go well Brian's white blood cell level should show significant improvement in about a week.

Thanks again to all of our family and friends and all the people we don't know personally who still continue to pray for Brian. Today has been another example of how powerful prayer is and how much your prayers have helped our son.