Rees rested pretty well last night, however, he continued to bleed quite a bit.  There were staff in and out throughout the night checking on the situation.  

Rees didn't seem uncomfortable and nothing deterred him from getting as much "device time" as we would allow.  

The OR team came for him in the morning and we all went down to the Pre-Op holding area.  We didn't have to wait too long and Rees went into surgery for the third time in three days.  

He had lost quite a bit of blood during the night so they had blood ready for him in the OR to be administered.  The surgery did not last too long and within two hours we were on our way up to the ICU (again).  

Rees' incision was completely opened during the surgery and both the distractor rods were replaced.  The new rods are much shorter (closer to the openings in his head), which means we have to be more vigilant as we protect against infection but they look as though there will be less chance of them pulling out.

He was closed much tighter this time too so the incision is a lot cleaner and they inserted a drain for any blood he continues to lose.  He did lose quite a bit of blood during the surgery and the transfusion he recieved was to compensate the loss of blood throughout the last day and night ... sooo ... he has continued to receive extra blood transfusions today.

What an awesome gift to receive on your birthday!! 

He is doing pretty well and he is in good spirits, which is a BIG PLUS.