Ira has made it through surgery! Joe called and gave me the following information. Their doctor said that the entire procedure was "routine" and that they were not surprised by what they found inside Ira's little body. That is a good thing. The surgery involved moving his organs back into his abdomen. Typically, with CDH kids there is a hole in the diaphragm that is sewn together. However, in Ira there is almost a complete absence of a diaphragm so they made a diaphragm for him out of Gortex and used that to seperate his abdomen from his chest cavity. The space in his abdomen was so small that they had to leave a portion of his abdomen open. The open incision is covered with a Gortex patch and when the skin has grown enough to close the wound they will remove the patch.

These next twenty four hours are the most critical Ira has faced in his young life. They absolutely have to get him off the ECMO machine and onto an Oscillator within this twenty-four hour period. The doctor is optimistic about his chances, but he can't do anything else in helping Ira get better unless he comes off that machine.

Please pray in earnest for Ira to come off the ECMO and to show signs of strength over the next 24 hours.

Jason