It "Dozen" Get Much Better Than This: Wonderful Blessings!

I flew back to Oregon on Tuesday so I would be there for Zachary's surgery on Wednesday. He was stable the entire week with no real problems or concerns. On Tuesday his sodium levels were low and they caused a bit of concern for a few hours. Remarkably the next morning before surgery, everything looked good!

It was heart-wrenching watching him go into surgery. So little, so fragile....it was all I could do to not bawl my eyes out right then and there! They took him at 7:30 to start putting all his lines in for I.V.'s, etc. They told us because he's so tiny and already been poked so many times, it might take them 2 hours to get them all in! Finally at 10:20, I received the first phone call from the nurse. She said that they had just done the first incision and surgery was underway. She said she would call every two hours with an update.

At 12:30, she called again and reported that they were still working on placing the patch over the hole in his heart. She described the process as being very tedious with such a small patient. She said she was watching on the monitor and was amazed at what a process it really was. She promised to call again at 2:30.

At 2:20, the phone at the receptionist counter rang. She asked if we were in the waiting area. I raised my hand to acknowledge her and she jumped up and whisked us into a conference room, stating the Doctor wanted to see us.

That quite honestly scared me to death! There was no way they could possibly be done with the operation! The Surgeon had stated it would take him 5-6 hours! We waited in the room for about 8-10 minutes. Finally he showed up with a big smile on his face and asked how we were doing. I tried to hold it together while he explained that he was done and the surgery had gone remarkably well, better in fact than he had hoped for! He went on to explain that he was able to patch another smaller hole (he had originally said this hole would most likely close by itself, but decided after seeing it, to just go ahead and stitch it up), complete the interrupted Aortic Arch and then lastly patch the Aortopulmonary window.

That last one was the one that took the most time, the one he was most worried about and the one that was most crucial in fixing as quickly as possible! He was so pleased that as tedious as it was, he was able to do an excellent repair job, in fact he believes it won't need another surgery in the future as he thought it might.

When he finally got done explaining everything and it hit me that it was over and he was going to be ok, my emotions took over and I couldn't hold back the tears if I tried. Such a relief to have that huge challenge over with. He still has a long recovery ahead of him but the hard part is done.

They said he had bled quite a bit (as expected) but that it had slowed down enough that he was able to stitch him up afterwards. He had warned us that more than likely they would not be able to sew him up for a few days after surgery due to swelling of the heart and tissues in the area. So again, such a relief that they were able to stitch him right up. It just means his recovery can start that much sooner.

We are hoping he will be able to get off the ventilator this weekend and that they will be able to remove the drainage tubes that are coming out from inside of him. They stated that those are very painful and would like them out as soon as possible. They also talked about starting him back on feeds in the next few days, which is wonderful news!

We were not able to take any pictures of him in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) because phones have to be turned off and that was the only camera we had. He has tubes coming out all over him! His stitches down his chest actually looked a ton better today than yesterday, which kind of surprised me! I didn't think they would look that good so fast!

We appreciate all the love and prayers in his behalf! He is truly our little miracle and our Father in Heaven has blessed him up to this point and for that we are eternally grateful!

The only pictures I have to post are of Sabrina and I making key chains and bracelets in the waiting area, courtesy of the OHSU Volunteer that brought her jewelery making supplies! She gave us something to take our mind off of everything while we sat in the waiting area. We were there 13 hours that day and came home exhausted but thankful!