1. If at all possible don't have the pre-op appointment on the day of surgery.
2. Versed is our friend
Unfortunately because Lucy had pink eye, we had to schedule our pre-op appointment for the morning of surgery. We packed up and left the house at 6 am. Our pre-op was scheduled for 7 am and surgery was schedule for 12:30 pm. After the exam, labs and x-ray we had about three hours. Lucy confined to a bed in a small room for three hours, man o man. The anesthesiologist came in around 12:30 pm (they were late). We went over some information, then they asked if we wanted to give Lucy some medicine before sending her into the operating room. We opted to give her some Versed. It was the first time she had sedation medication prior to a surgery. It was hilarious!
The nurse came out after surgery had begun to tell us everything was going as expected. She also commented on Lucy's demeanor ......she was just chilling and looking around as they were preparing for surgery (another plus of versed). We received one more update from the nurse when the surgery was complete. She said it would another fifteen minutes but we could head over to the PSHU waiting room and she would come get us when Lucy was situated in her room. By 5 pm we were in her room.
The surgeon performed end to end anastomosis where a lateral thoracotomy incision is made toward the back of the patient’s left chest. The patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), if present, is ligated (tied off with suture). Clamps are placed on the aorta above and below the narrowed segment, so that blood can still flow to the upper body and head. The coarctation segment is cut out and the two ends of the aorta are sewn back together.
Lucy came out of the OR with one chest tube and on oxygen. Also, based on her history we are back on Tolerex! The doctors wanted to allow the lymph's to heal, so we will be on this awful formula for a month. Lucy was definitely not a fan of the oxygen cannula. Friday night we had to give her some more sedation because she kept trying to rub it off her face. Everything else about our hospital stay was as normal as can be (can you believe you are reading that!). Thursday and Friday she slept most of the day. Only waking up to drink a little water and snack on some goldfish.
Saturday Mike and I split time so one of us could be with her at all time. Saturday morning they removed oxygen and told us one more day with no drainage from her chest tube and we could pull it and go home. Saturday night a room on floor 2 opened up, so we packed up, moved down to our new room and prepared to go home. Sunday morning the cardiologist and surgeon came in to pull the chest tube and informed us that Lucy's potassium was high and that we might have to stay an extra night. NOOOO!!!!
They would decrease one medication then retest around noon. If everything was good we would be discharged. Thankfully the second test was good and by 3 pm we were headed home just four days after surgery. Just a note that we beat the average hospital stay of five days!
Lucy took a two hour nap when we got home. When she woke up she was happy as a clam to be home. We have a six week restriction on picking her up under her arms (which is so hard!), but other than that, no restrictions. By Monday she was crawling, pulling herself up and climbing up the stairs.
We have a surgical follow up in a week and we will see if we can start decreasing some of her medications from surgery. We'll also see how the hospital stay impacted her. As of now, she cries every time we lay her down, even diaper changes!
We can't thank everyone enough for their prayers. Lucy did amazing and we are so proud of her!
