It was determined this morning that the immense unilateral pleural effusion (recent large amount of fluid on the left side) was indeed the onset of Chylothorax -- the same complication that he had after the Glenn OHS in 2008. After all of that crazy amount of fluid had drained off over the last day and a half, his chest xray looked much better this morning.
However, now that he has officially been diagnosed with Chylothorax after this OHS (the Fontan), the doctors have put him on a no-to-low fat diet. This should prove quite difficult in getting him to keep his nutrition up needed to maintain adequate blood levels. It was much, much easier to keep his nutrition up after the second surgery (at 8 months old), because the doctors prescribed Portagen (a baby formula where the fat is already broken down) that we mixed up and fed to him via his g-tube. It cleared it up in 30 days. But, that's not an option to do this time 1) because it tasted so nasty and 2) he has been g-tube free for over a year and a half now.
So labs this morning--- as compared to yesterday's numbers---
Sodium came up 2 points, but still showing Low.
Potassium went down 2 points, but still showing Normal.
Calcium stayed exactly the same, and still showing Low.
Albumin went down 1 point, and still showing Low.
General well-being, activity, and overall attitude today has been great. He is sitting up on his own so much better than in recent days, he likes to kick a ball back and forth, and is spending more time walking the halls than "Flinstoning" in his little red corvette. We are enjoying family time on this Father's Day, just the four of us in his hospital room, and he is laughing and comfortable enough to play with Jarrett. We have the Disney movie "Mary Poppins" on autoplay in the dvd player. On Friday, we started a sticker reward chart for him, and so far he has earned two prizes for filling up two lines of his most difficult tasks. Although it sounds as if he's doing so great from this perspective, there is still no talk about going home, as we are waiting for the clinical side to start the up-and-up climb.
Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there, especially to Andrew, my dad Steve, and to my father-in-law Dennis!