Post-Op Surgery Updates & More

It's Saturday morning, about 24 hours after Luke's surgery and he's doing ok. As we said, there were no major complications with the surgery itself, but he's been experiencing some of the common post-op problems - mainly a lack of urination and high blood glucose. They have the glucose issue under control after giving him some insulin, but the urination problem is still ongoing. We talked to the doctor this morning and they're going to give him one more dose of the medicine they have been giving him before trying some other things. They've continually re-assured us that these problems are very common after the type of surgery that he had and they normally can get them corrected within 48 hours or so.
He was sedated all day and night yesterday but we're told he's pretty awake this morning. They haven't had to give him any pain medicine yet, which is good, but they're keeping an eye on him. His heart rate is still a bit on the high side, but seems to be getting better slowly as well as his blood pressure which was a little low as well.

After the surgery yesterday we had a "family meeting" with his attending physician and the social worker there that we had scheduled earlier in the week. It was very informative and both reassuring and a bit scary. His doctor explained that a lot of the really hard stuff is behind him. Having the PDA surgery was a major step and once he's healed from it they look for him to make some major progress. The next big challenge, in addition to continuing to avoid infections, is to being weening him off of the ventilator/oscillator and get him to breathe on his own, so as to avoid certain issues and complications that can arise from being on those machines for too long of a period. While much of what the doctor said was good to hear, it was a big reminder that we have a LOT still ahead of us. The next month is another crucial period in which they'll try to gradually increase the amount of breast milk he'll receive in balance with all of the fluids and nutrition he's receiving via I.V. currently. They explained that they have to do this very slowly as to not cause an issue with intestinal inflammation, which can be serious.
One of the questions we get asked a lot and know people are curious about is about his weight gain and if he's "getting any bigger". He has gained a little weight - he's up to 1 lb and just over 10 ounces, but that could come back down a bit now that he's not getting any milk because of the surgery. It will be a long time before he starts to see any real weight gain, but we're not in any hurry. His overall health is our (and the doctors) main concern.
We'll continue to stay positive and we can't say enough about the amazing support, thoughts, prayers that you have all given to us and Luke. Each and every one one of you is helping (even if you may not feel like it) and supporting us a great deal through these tough times. Luke also asked us to thank his mommy's friends from college for the unbelievable gift basket they gave us. You guys are wonderful and we're very grateful.
Thanks everyone...we'll keep you posted on Luke's recovery.