Facebook Updates (Surgery and Post-Surgery)

Post surgery recovery

Brent had his first heart surgery on Friday, September 12th, 2014.  For the surgery, they did a PDA ligation since his PDA had not completely closed as it normally does.  Additionally, they did a Pulmonary Artery banding to regulate the flow of blood to his lungs.  Since Brent only as a single pumping ventricle, he was pumping too much blood to his lungs, and not enough to the rest of his body.  The band goes around his pulmonary artery, and restricts blood flow to the lungs since blood follows the path of least resistance.  The goal was to force more blood to his body, which should help him with his labored breathing, heart rate, and weight gain.

His first day or two after surgery were largely uneventful.  He slept a lot

Daddy caught a smile!

the first 24 hours or so due to sedation and the pain medicine he was on.  He was moved back to the cardiovascular ICU (CVICU) for observation immediately following surgery.  He was kept in the CVICU for approximately 5 days and was just transferred to the regular cardiology floor for continued observation.  During this time, our family also attended CPR classes as Children's Medical Center, as they are required prior to Brent being able to come home.  We feel more confident in being able to respond to a potential emergency - but hopefully will never have to use the training.

After tubes/wires removed

After 3 days in the CVICU, Brent was able to get his heart wires (temporary pacemaker wires) and chest drainage tubes removed.  During the time he had these in his chest and heart, we were unable to
hold him, so we were about as anxious as he was for the tubes and wires to start coming out.  Monday morning was the first opportunity we had to hold him since his surgery Friday morning, and it sure felt good!

The goal over the next several days is for Brent to remain stable with his breathing and heart rate, and especially for him to gain weight.  If he can do these things, there is a good chance he could be coming home within a few days.  We are very anxious as a family for him to be able to come home so that we can start living together as a family again, but want to be sure that his is stable and where he needs to be health wise for this to happen.

His next surgery, the "Glenn" will be at 4-6 months of age.  This will begin the reconstruction of his heart, and means that we will be back in the hospital in a few months going through all this again.  However, we are looking forward to a few weeks/months of relative normalcy in the meantime.  Our little heart warrior is putting up a good fight so far, and I am so very, very proud of him!!!