The days go by too fast

The days go by too fast
Amazed at how the years have flown and how old we all are!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Surgery update

well, true to who Sophia is, we have a resilient, strong children in the Pediatric ICU at Hopkins tonight. The last two days were long and eventful. Her cath showed what it needed too and showed the need to do this radical correction. Sophia was very upset last night and it was a very long night at the Hospital for her and mom. This morning we met the wonderful surgeon to talk through the procedure and discovered that Sophia's heart is amazing in that it has adapted to having missing veins, holes, and very small arteries. We brought her into the operating room at 7 am where she charmed the room, especially after getting some drugs to make her happy!!
The surgery began before 9 am and we got word after lunch that the 5 hour surgery would be taking a lot more time due to the incredible amount of scar tissue left behind. The 1-3 pm end time turned into a 6:30 finish! Dr. Vrecela met us looking exhausted and was not afraid to say that this was an incredibly hard procedure. He said it was like cement getting through the scar tissue and then it more than double the time to do the work he needed to do. He said he was pleased with the results though she was bleeding some and might require a trip back to the OR tonight. We were told we could see her in an hour which turned into THREE! We also were told they were shocked she already woke up and they had to put her out again.

At 9:30 we saw our little girl who looked so great considering! She was giving the PICU a hard time and they were working to find a stronger medicine since she was refusing to remain sedated. Her feisty side was already showing through! She turned to our voices when Ben and I came in and looked right at us. Sarah, my cousin who was with us today, commented on the fact that a year ago during her other heart surgery, she didn't have a mom and dad that she could look at as she came out of her surgery. What a gift we have that she was fighting to get into our arms tonight!

Sophia is still bleeding and they are giving her blood and watching her at this point as well as giving her a very strong sedative to keep her calm. Ben and I came home to sleep since we are really exhausted. We had great friends and family be with us today and many of you who called and prayed for us...we are blessed.

I will work to catch everyone up tomorrow!

Carissa

1 comment:

Jackie said...

thanks for the updates! so glad that it is finally over and she is doing well. i showed the kids the video of Sophia so they would know who they were praying for...Noah said, "she doesn't look like there's anything wrong with her." :) we will keep praying that she will be back to her normal sweet and happy self very soon. Praise God that she has you guys to help get her through this!