Well, yesterday was a long day but we are happy to say we are on the other side of open heart surgery #3. They took Addy back about 8am yesterday. We were thankful that they tanked her up on Versed so it made a very scary moment for us much easier to smile through. Versed is a good thing....it hit her like a ton of bricks! All the sudden she was holding my Kindle closer and closer to her face, and then she was asking "where my Kindle go, where my Kindle go?" while she held it in her hands. She went easily with the OR team and we began our wait.
To anyone that has never had to sit in the surgery waiting room...it is hell. A colorful assortment of families inhabit this area throughout the day as they wait for their offspring to various procdures or operations. Some of these families are wondering if they will see their child again...others use it as an opportunity to have a hillbilly family reunion- this phenomenon seems to be most commonly witnessed when the child is having a relatively simple procedure such as tubes in ears or an umbilical hernia repair that brings in family members from all branches of the tree. So...now that you have an accurate picture of what we're dealing with here, we waited...and waited...and waited. Dr B. finished up about 2:30 and came out to tell us exactly what we needed to hear. Everything was picture perfect in surgery, no unexpected complications. Her anatomy and pressures were the best we could hope for and hopefully this will decrease the risk of post-op complications.
We didn't actually get to see her until almost 6:00 last night, due to some breakdowns in communication, but the positive note is that it didn't have anything to do with how she was actually doing. The downside is that after placing the Broviac, and replacing it, the line just would not draw- thus we were unable to confirm that it was a good line in place. Throughout the night she was initially a little behind with fluid management but once all of that was regulated her urine picked up, lactate dropped, and gases were perfect.
This morning, she has started waking up with a vengeance! She had her foley taken out and we have started diuretics to start the drying out process. Her chest tubes are still putting out a good but reasonable amount. One of her ART lines has been taken out and the other ART and IJ central lines will probaby be taken out tomorrow. They were able to secure a new double lumen PICC line to serve as access until she goes home since the Broviac didn't work out. This is great because she was still sedated and never knew otherwise. The CV surgery NP finally was able come and pull her LA and Broviac lines so that means we are officially ready for extubation! This is good because she has been blowing through Dilaudid and Versed like they're candy all day- she wants that tube out! She has opened her eyes and shook her head no to a few questions, but mostly she just cries and cries whenever she wakes up. She will grab Bearie and hold him and has mouthed "Mama" a few times. Even as hard as it is for her to look at me and cry with a scared look in her eyes, it's all worth it. I'll take these tough parts over many more things we could be facing.... going to extubate, to be continued....
It's now 10:30 at night and the last 6 hours have been a blur. Addy extubated to nasal cannula and within an hour was on room air! She has had the O2 back on some just because she is still desaturating when she gets ticked and holds her breath but for the most part her sats are >92% ,which is better than we have ever seen! She is definately not a happy camper but I am overjoyed to be able to say that Addy is still the same girl we sent to surgery! The first few hours she mostly slept off all the sedation and occasionally woke up distressed. After 3 hours she began demanding "Addy drink, Addy drink" and "momma hold Addy". She chugged down 3 glasses of fluids in about 30 seconds a piece and just couldn't satisfy her thirst. Finally they gave the OK to advance her diet and she got her favorite food in the world "appleshaush". She ate half a container, demanded to be held (we of course complied), let out the world's biggest belch, and promptly fell asleep! She even slept through both of her breathing treatments and never moved! They are anticipating removing her IJ central line and other ART line later tonight (when she is already awake if they are smart). We thankfully have a sleep room tonight so I am finishing this up to try to get at least 2 solid hours of sleep. The exhaustion has truly set in tonight to the point of feeling sick but it doesn't matter. I will go days on end without sleep if she needs me there. Luckily I think we have had great nurses so far so I trust they will take good are of her and won't hesitate to call me back if she needs me- so that's the only reason she is out of my sight for now. I just want to say how touched we have been by the outpouring of love and support from friends, coworkers, family, and complete strangers. We are truly blessed and feel that God continues to bless us every step of the way with not only one amazing little girl but a great amount of love from so many people!
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