A smiling surgeon is a wonderful sign...

Greetings.
Jonas had his surgery today. As the title suggests, it is quite a wonderful sight to see a smiling surgeon enter the conference room. She told us that it went very well and that Jonas had one of the larger lower stomach muscle masses that she has ever seen. We took this as a compliment:). She made a small c-shaped incision around his belly button and took care of business. While operating, she took a couple of photos of the incision she made into the muscle mass. After surgery, she showed us the work that she did and indicated that it went very smoothly. There are a few potential complications but the rates of these occurring are very low.

Mari and I visited with Jonas shortly after the surgery and he looked quite well. I should mention he did look a little angry at times but this is a good sign of a fighting spirit so I will chalk this up as a positive. The nurses carefully made him more comfortable and at last check he was asleep. He is on a drager ventilator but the hope is that he can be off it quite a bit quicker than the last surgery.

Elsa has a new neighbor. We were so happy to see her new neighbor arriving today because it is a little boy and his family that have spent a long time in the NICU as well. There is something about having a similar experience of the NICU that makes it easy to support one another during this long journey. We are so happy their little boy is doing well enough to move upstairs and also pleased to have such great company for Elsa's last few weeks in the ICN.

Elsa is doing fine. She continues to be a little stubborn on the feedings but our case worker suggested bringing in the car seat. We are getting close...maybe next week?

We pray that Jonas and Elsa continue to grow and heal. We especially are praying for Jonas's recovery.

God Bless,
Dan & Mari & Jonas & Elsa