Sitting here in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Family Lounge. Nurse "field reporter" Holly just stopped in to tell us they started sugery almost 15 minutes ago (about 9:35 AM). Who's here with us? My Dad, Amy's sister Jenni, Amy's other sister Lori, Amy's Dad, and my sister Amy. My Mom is over at Ron's House playing with Hannah. I'm pretty calm right now. The comfort I feel in the ability of our surgeons goes a long way. Nurse Holly said she'd be back in an hour or so; I'll update then.

Update 2005-02-04 11:12 AM

Nurse Holly checked in again. She said Alexandar is doing fine. They hooked him up to the heart/lung bypass machine just a few minutes before she spoke talked with us. She expects to get back with us around 12:30. So far, so good...

Update 2005-02-04 12:26 PM

Nurse Holly once again came in and said everything is going well. His vitals are stable and the team is busy with the repair. She'll be back around 1:30.

Update 2005-02-04 1:20 PM

The repair is done! Nurse Holly let us know they're closing him up now, and will be taking him off bypass shortly. We'll need to migrate over to the main surgery waiting room so we can see him and meet with the doctors. What a relief. A milestone has been passed.

Update 2005-02-26 12:13 PM

The procedure completed during surgery was called slide tracheoplasty.