Blurgh

Magnus had a mostly good day, except that his pesky right lung "haziness" on the X-ray was not getting better. They did follow through on their plan of reducing his sedation, and he was able to sit in a chair on my lap for a few minutes (he still has soooo many lines, though, that it wasn't very comfortable for either of us, and he kept asking to be put back in bed. I liked it, though). Anyway, getting back to that lung, someone happened to notice that in several different x-rays, his right diaphragm was in exactly the same place...so they checked, and sure enough, his right diaphragm is clearly paralyzed. This is a common complication with open heart surgery (the phrenic nerve controlling the diaphragm can get nicked), and is usually temporary. However, because of his lung collapse and the fluid accumulation on that side they are trying to figure out what to do. One possibility is that they may do another (relatively minor) surgery to plicate the diaphragm (basically move it down and then sew it in place). Another possibility would be to watch and wait. The cardiologists are going to confer with the surgeon and then decide.