6:10 p.m. update

And a visit from the doctor. The hygroma is out and there were a few minor issues during the procedure. 

First, there was a mucous plug in Sutton's breathing tube. An infants breathing tube is very small, so it doesn't take much to block off the tube (and, therefore, their ability to breathe). That halted the procedure for a little while while that issue was resolved. 

Secondly, because the hygroma was so deeply rooted into the surrounding areas, when the doctors tried to remove it from the back of the throat his throat tore. They are repairing the torn area and he will require some extra healing time. We are looking more towards a 2 week stay now. He will have a feeding tube placed and as the area heals they will do a swallow study to ensure he is not aspirating before they allow him to eat again. He will also get some extra antibiotics as a preventative. They also had to remove half of his thyroid gland because they could not detach it from the hygroma. She isn't certain that his parathyroid gland (which regulates calcium) wasn't removed as well. She suspects it is behind the remaining portion of his thyroid, but we will know for sure in a few days based on his lab results. The thyroid can still be functional with only half of it, but if there are any issues with either his thyroid or parathyroid we will begin working with an endocrinologist. 

I'd be lying if I said we weren't a little disappointed by the outcome, but overall we are very happy with the results. It wasn't the best case scenario, but it was far from the worst. The nerves and vessels were not touched at all (though he could still have voice trouble because the general area was disturbed and nerves are very sensitive; time will tell) which is great. 

Please continue to keep him in your prayers as these next several days can determine a lot of things for him. We are hoping for no endocrine issues and successful healing of his throat with no infection and no aspiration problems. We are also praying for a successful extubation (we don't care about the timeline, we just want it to be successful) and the strength of his airway.