As most of you know, roughly two weeks ago Lucy cried herself into cardiac arrest. This episode pushed up her Norwood surgery by two weeks. We have been told that the Norwood surgery should help her heart cope better when she gets upset. We are hoping that these 'fits' are less dramatic as she starts to recover. We won't really have a good idea until Lucy is weened off her pain and sedation medication and her breathing tube is removed (these are all things that are keeping her calm during the first stages of recovery). Here's a glimpse at Lucy screaming and us trying to calm her.
Through the first three days of recovery Lucy has mostly been asleep. On Saturday most of the swelling had gone down and she was awake for about fifteen minutes during our visit. Right now we don't want to overwhelm her, so Mike and I take turns talking to her making sure she is focusing. This usually tires her out and her eyelids become really heavy. She tries to fight it for about five to ten minutes. Here's one from Saturday....Lucy was right, it only took a couple days to start looking better.
Today, Dr. Ilbawi decided it was time to close her chest. There was a little fluid around her left lung but they believe that is due to her being on her back and also from the breathing tube. They started some chest therapy to loosen up the secretions and help her cough. After the chest is closed, they will monitor her overnight and then start decreasing her medications. The chest tubes are still draining pretty heavily, so those will remain in for a couple more days. Other than that, it will be one day at a time. We are all about slow and steady.
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