Fontan Recovery- 1st night

Sorry for the lack of update on the blog. It has been a roller coaster of an afternoon and evening. Plus my laptop and the hospital wi-fi can’t seem to play nice. Luckily, I can use the IPad…

The surgery went very well. Dr. Pearl was able to put in an 18mm conduit which is adult size. No issues in the OR, just a few encounters with scar tissue.

The real fun began once Andrew arrived in the CVICU. For some reason, all of his numbers changed. He was having a difficulty with keeping his blood pressure up and his heart rate down. He also began to run a fever.

Then about 4:00, things went crazy for about 20 seconds… His heart rate jumped to over 250 and his blood pressure in his arterial line dropped to zero. His body snapped out of it, but it was enough to concern the cardiologist. They gave him a medicine to help slow his heart rate which was still over 165. It helped to bring down his heart rate and there was talk of taking him off of the ventilator.

That quickly changed when his heart began to beat irregularly. It seems that his atrium (upper chamber) wants to beat more often than the ventricle (lower chamber). This causes the monitor to show an extra heartbeat. However, his body seems to like this new rhythm. His blood pressure has remained stable. However, he is now on a full drip of the medicine to help his heart beat regularly.

He was taken off of the ventilator at about 10:00pm. He is on oxygen but getting better at keeping his sats above 80%. He is awake for short periods of time and is telling us what he wants (a drink, water, all done, go home now, hold me). Unfortunately, we have to tell him no on all of these, but he doesn’t get too upset and then goes back to sleep. He only freaks out whe he can’t see one of us (hence the lack of updates to the blog).

We have been very blessed with wonderful doctors and nurses. The nurse we had this afternoon remembers us from when Andrew was a baby. The doctors have been great at listening and responding. Tonight we are very lucky… our favorite nurse offered to work tonight if she could take care of Andrew. She is absolutely wonderful and adores Andrew. On top of that, Dr Lindblade, Andrew’s cardiologist is on call tonight and has been working with the intensivist. Everyone is keeping such a close eye on him. Having a reputation of being a trouble maker has it’s perks!

It is too late (1:30am) to try to spell the type irregular heart rhythm He has or the medicine he is on. I will post more details in the morning, probably after rounds. Since it is easier to post the little things to Twitter, watch for the updates there. I am hoping to figure our the laptop issue so I can post some pics.

Thank you for all of the well wishes, thoughts and prayers. Thank you to friends and family who have come by, brought dinner, watched our girls and all of the numerous little things that allow us to focus on our little hero!

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