Allison ended up having to go back into the OR last night. She did pretty well in the morning and the team was very happy with how she looked but by noon they weren’t quite so sure.  I had run over to see how Tam was doing and when I got back the surgeons were standing around Alli’s bed and saying they didn’t like how her drains looked.  Too much bile was presenting in them so there must have been a leak in the bile system somewhere.  They took her back for biliary repair around 5:30 and were done around 7.  They had found a leak in the roux, a little tuck where it had folded into itself and missed getting caught by the stitch so it was letting bile into her abdomen.  Bile is acid, so it is quite painful to have floating around in there, which explains why they were having trouble managing her pain yesterday afternoon.  She is much better today!  She is definitely fighting some anxiety issues so we had a good discussion with the nurses about keeping her calm before and during exams so that she doesn’t desat or have more pain from crying.  We had wondered if the pain caused anxiety or the anxiety increased the pain.  So we tried a few tricks when it was time to pull her art line this morning and it worked!  A few ice chips, Austin’s phone, a toy or two, some balloons…all made a great distraction, coupled with the comfort of Mom or Dad’s lap.  She did great, even with pulling their very sticky tape, which usually makes her wail.  Right now, she is sleeping again, exhausted from being jostled, from the bed to Mom’s lap, then to Dad.  She spent quite a while awake and talking so it’s time to rest.  They want to wake her up in about 15 minutes to eat a little jello, take some oral pain meds (trying to wean her off her continuous drip) and do another exam.  Today feels much different than yesterday!  But we understand it’s a rollercoaster for the first while.  For today, this hour, we are UP 🙂