Health Updates for Andre Nisly
for January 7-8, 2005

Congratulations to Jon & April Nisly
for their son born Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Currently at Children's Mercy Hospital
1-7-05 4:00pm

Jon said that the doctors think that Andre's esophagus and stomach may not be connected properly.  This is a condition that some children are born with.  They will need to do further testing to verify the exact problem, however.  Jon and April will be driving to Kansas City and Andre will be flying.

1-7-05 7:00pm

Jon & April along with Jon and Beth Miller are headed to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.  They should arrive in 1-2 hours.  The doctors have contacted Jon's by phone and let them know that they will be proceeding with surgery as soon as they arrive at the hospital.  They are doing some preliminary test on Andre who arrived earlier.
1-8-05 9:30am
They went ahead with the surgery last night and the doctors said that it went better than expected.  The surgery lasted about 2½ hours.  Jons arrived at the hospital about 8:30pm and they rushed them to the bedside where the doctors were waiting.  They then got ready for surgery and that started about 9:00pm. 

1-8-05 10:30am

The doctors confirmed that his stomach was not attached to the esophagus but was attached to the trach tube.  This caused the air that he was breathing to be sent to his stomach.  Before surgery, the doctors were somewhat worried that the esophagus would not be long enough to reach to his stomach.  This didn't materialize and they were able to attach the stomach to the esophagus with no problems.  The technical term for this birth defect is called esophageal fissure.

Right now, they have a tube running through the nose into the stomach so that they can feed him.  They didn't need to put a tube directly into the stomach like they thought they might.  He is also on the ventilator and the doctors goal is to have that out sometime today.  They have a drain tube that goes in through the chest.

His doctor's name is Dr. Saint Peter!  Couldn't have better credentials. :)  The nurses have been excellent and very supportive.  At first, they said that Jons wouldn't be able to hold him until the ventilator tube was removed.  But the doctor overrode that and said that they "might" be able to hold him.  They haven't yet.

Jons stayed in the Ronald McDonald room at the hospital last night which gave them some privacy.  They will be going to the Ronald McDonald house soon to get settled in there.  That house is within walking distance of the hospital.

The staff at the hospital is also helping Jons find information regarding Downs Syndrome -- a possibility for Andre.  Please pray that Jons can handle this situation however it ends up.

1-8-05 12:00pm

The Ronald McDonald house is within walking distance of the hospital but the staff doesn't recommend that they walk because of the community that they are in.  They do provide shuttle transportation and Jons have their car there, as well.

1-8-05 9:00pm

Today, they turned off the ventilator around 2:00pm.  Andre looked great.   About 4:30pm, he started going downhill.  The nurses said that his body was just "too lazy" to breathe so by 5:30pm, they put him back on the ventilator. Part of it may have been due to the pain medications that he was on.  In any case, when Jons went back in at 6:45pm, he didn't look to great.  From 7:00pm to 8:00pm no one is allowed in the room so when they went back in around 8:30pm, Andre had perked back up.  His blood gases also looked great.

He is now off all of his pain medication and the nurses thought that in another 24 hours, they should be able to take him off his ventilator again.  [The nurses are great and keep them very well informed!]  They had to sedate Andre to put the ventilator back in and when that sedation wears off, they may try to take the ventilator back out and not wait the 24 hours. 

They have nurses around the clock and the doctors are always close by.  This weekend, they will only have two different nurses and they will be on longer shifts.  All of the staff does an excellent job!

They welcome guests and phone calls.  If you call their cell phones, they may not answer.  They are not allowed to have their cell phones on when they are back with Andre.  Feel free to visit them -- they will be spending time with Andre and may not have time to talk but they would love to have you come.

April's mom, sister and brother were there today but left earlier this evening.  Joe brought Tristan up this evening.  He was full of questions and not knowing what was going on bothered him a lot.  He wants to know everything!  They will probably take him in to see Andre in the morning.  Joe and Jon Millers will be going home on Sunday.  The nurses are dying to see Jon's kids and that may happen some more next week.

They have 42 babies in the unit where Andre is in but there is still a lot of privacy for each couple and their kid.  They really have an excellent support staff there.   The Ronald McDonald house is gorgeous!  Tonight, some nursing students brought supper in!  Just to be helpful!

Thanks for all of your prayers and support.  Jons don't need a lot of food right now but appreciate how much you all care!  If you would like to direct some of your help to Daniel & Iva who are taking care of their kids, that would be fine.  Keep praying for them.