Two days post-op, Ambrose is up and running around and as happy as ever - he's a tough little guy.

Ambrose is home, a little sore, but getting back on track.
His brothers ran out to greet him on the driveway, he had a big smile.

Ambrose's fundoplication went well today. The procedure was done laproscopically, you can see the small incisions on either side of his ribcage and in his navel.
He is taking some pedialyte by g-tube and watching Monsters Inc in his hospital room. If he tolerates the electrolytes, he'll start on goat's milk in a few hours, and if that goes well, he'll be home tomorrow.

Surgery Rescheduled

Ambrose's fundoplication procedure has been rescheduled for Thursday, September 1st, and he should discharge the following day, allowing Labor Day weekend for recovery at home. Since his initial appointment with the surgeon, we have gone back to feeding him a high calorie homemade blended formula. He is tolerating it better, not throwing up as much or as often, as when he was on the pediasure. However he has not gained any weight. He expends so many calories repairing the damage caused by the reflux and aspiration, which is what the surgery is intended to solve.

John Paul recently started 1st grade and is doing well - only one visit to the dean's office for fighting at recess.

Josef started at a Catholic Montessori preschool and is very proud to be going to school like a big boy now.

Charlie is figuring out how to get into and on top of everything. He slithers his hand between "baby proofed" cabinet doors, fetches a stool so he can reach things on the counter, I even caught him climbing the bookshelf (good thing they've been anchored to the wall).

Ambrose is very interested in letters and numbers and likes to announce what aisle we are on in the grocery store, and point out the circle"K" or "U"haul or "M"cDonalds from his car seat.

Peter has recently figured out how to get food into his own mouth, which is a relief because the older boys were getting tired of their "Peter Feeder" duties. He's so proficient, in fact, he's only a pound lighter than Ambrose, and 5 lbs less than Charlie. We've been asked more than once if they're triplets.

Time Out

Surgery

Ambrose's broncoscopy biopsies showed lipids in his lungs, which means he is aspirating his food, probably in his sleep.
The fundoplication will be schedueled for early August.

Procedure Results

The first results of the biopsies won't be available for another week, but immediate appearance of the GI tract is normal; his airways, however are inflamed. No indication yet as to the cause of the inflammation, could be viral or bacterial infection from aspiration of food or refluxed stomach contents. No cause for concern yet, we'll wait and see what the biopsies show.
One snag with the bronchoscopy was that the pulmonologist was not able to retrieve all of the saline wash used to collect samples from the lung. The result being that the sample collected was smaller than preferred, but still enough to grow a general culture; the fluid left in Ambrose's lung should be absorbed by his body with no problems.
Ambrose was pretty cranky coming out of anesthesia, but was distracted and calmed easily when I pointed out the stars on his hospital gown and sang "twinkle twinkle little star".