Recovering: Whats What

7:35 AM

What a night!

If I would have known that yesterday was going to go as smoothly as it did I think that I may have worried a lot less!

However, nothing is guaranteed and since I am a professional worrier I probably would have continued to stress myself out either way!

Vada is my own little super hero. Ill call her a Heart Hero. (Insert super hero music here.) She is stronger than strong and recovering faster than fast. She is the A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Heart Hero Girl!!!

Sleeping with her mended heart bear that was a gift from the hospital staff.

She looks so beautiful sleeping in the hospital crib. Peaceful. If it weren't for the tubes popping out from under her blanket, the oxygen tube coming from her nose or the Somenetic piece stuck to her head, you wouldn't know that she just had a major operation done. Her color is beautiful and her skin looks like porcelain. She looks like an angel. I love her so much!

She is doing well today.  She has nursed seven times since her operation. I have even held her in my arms. Talk about an awkward mess! I was so nervous, but having her settled in my arms was comforting. Right now, as I am typing this I am laying in bed with her sweet body nestled into mine. I should be sleeping and would be but I am waiting for one of the social workers to come in with paper work, but thats besides the point...the point is or was, I am laying in bed with my baby!

5:35 PM
A couple of minor things have occurred. Not real set backs, just teeny tiny bumps. She was placed onto a temporary pace maker that will give her heart just a little push when needed. Funny thing is, since shes been on it she hasn't really needed it, which is a good thing! She has also been put back onto  Lasix. Her chest is a little noisy.

Something that we are looking forward to is her drain being removed. Her drain is located directly below the surgical incision on her chest. With older children and adults this is the thing that they most complain of when it comes to pain and discomfort. So were eager to have this gone for Miss V. The plan is to remove it when she wakes up again. She has been removed from a lot of her pain medications/sedatives and is maintaining-seizure free (knock on wood, toss some salt and pray to God) on Tylenol and comparable medications.

All of the Cardiac ICU patients are typically assigned to two nurses and each nurse has either one or two patients at a time. This is Vada's nurse for today. Her name is Ann and if I haven't already mentioned this...she rocks!

10:55 PM
So far, we have been blessed in the nurse department. Yesterday our day nurse was as sweet as they get and it turns out that she has a six year old sister who happens to have Down syndrome which gave us lots to talk about. Yesterday's nurse practically never left the room or stopped working on different things, which is expected when your maintaining a patient who has just gone through a major operation like Vada has.  Tonight's nurse, Ashly, has it fairly easy, Vada has since been removed from practically every tube and medication and is over all maintaining herself. Therefore, were not having much interaction with her. We see her though. She's there, sitting at the window in front of Vada's room. Always there... and if not, she has a replacement...always. So, even though Vada is doing well, I find great comfort in knowing that she is still being monitored so closely.

11:40 PM

A little earlier I requested some medication for Vada. On top of this surgery she is teething and seems to also be having some stomach/gas issues which I was told is a common side effect with one of the medications that she was on. So Ashly came back in and gave her some IV meds. It took about ten minutes for the drug to kick in and Vada to fall asleep. She is awake and alert now. She just nursed and acts as if she is considering another nap. With Vada being up and alert now Ashly came back in to check on her. Turns out Ashly is a pretty nice girl too. Just a little less sociable as our other two nurses.

Anyway, the purpose of this was to give an update and I wanted to show you a what everything was that you see on Vada in her early post-op pictures. I thought that maybe some of you who are awaiting surgery may find it helpful to see and know what to expect.

What your seeing in the next two pictures is one sleepy baby. No longer heavily sedated, but sedated none the less. These were taken this morning, so around 20 hours post-op.

The patch going across Vada's forhead is called a Somanetics and it messures the cerebral and peripheral circulation. Its usually on for about twenty-four hours. She has an oxygen tube in her nose giving her what is called SimpleOxygyn. Her incision is the longest vertical bandage and her drain tube is directly underneath it. If you look at the right side of her belly you'll see a white/gray coil of wires under some tape. There is another coil on the opposite site that is yellow. These are her pacer wires. They are there in case her heart begins to beat at an irregular rhythm. Which her's did and she is now hooked up to a temporary pace maker. However, the nurse said that while her being hooked up to the pace maker is not hurting her, its not helping her either. So she should be coming off of the pacemaker in the morning.

She has a Central Line in her left Femoral Vein in her left leg. In her right leg she has another central line in her femoral artery. This one will be the first of the two to go first. The central line that is in the vein will be in until close to discharge...like that day and even up until the last hour or so before discharge.She has a foley catheter in to measure her urine output. That's to make sure that her heart is working well with all of her other organs and that her kidneys are doing their jobs. She has a pulse ox on her left toe and in this pictures she was getting nine medications on top of her seizure medications.

It's all a bit overwhelming, but less than we imagined.

The next three pictures are Vada's most recent pictures. I was able to hold her today for the first time around three-ish. Up until that point I had been straddling the crib to nurse her. She felt awkward in my arms and I was so scared of hurting her but at the same time, I loved the awkwardness, only because I was holding my girl.

The next two are the most recent being on an hour or so old. She has almost everything disconnected. She is off of all heavy medications and is on something for pain that is compared to Motrin. All of the wires that your looking at are hooked up to the central lines or are monitoring devices. Like I have already mentioned the temporary pace maker and the leads should be removed tomorrow. The catheter has been removed and the central line that is in her artery should also be removed tomorrow.

All of the nurses including the surgeon are saying the same thing about Vada. Never, NEVER have they seen a baby bounce back this quickly. N.E.V.E.R.! They said that if your going through this type of repair that those who have Down syndrome always bounce back the quickest, but never like this.What's that mean for Miss V? It means they think she may be discharged on Friday!!! If she continues to do what she has been doing then they will be sending her home! I'm nervous! I'm scared! I cant believe it! We will just let time tell. Friday is only four days after having major heart surgery, so we will see but WOW!