Well, since I last posted, my hands have kind of been tied up - holding Ethan! I held him from 3:30 until 8:30. Yes, five straight hours, just trying to comfort him so that he can rest. They took him off the ventilator around 3pm and he has been breathing on his own since then. He is pretty hoarse from the irritation caused by the breathing tube. When he cries, you can't hear anything (how many times have I wished for that before, but I would love to hear a full blown cry right now).
Because of the breathing tube, he has a lot of mucus in his throat. They have been suctioning him and will be doing some breathing treatments to help loosen this up. He hasn't been able cough very much because he is still so sleepy. All this makes his breathing sound pretty bad and makes it looks like he is having a hard time breathing, but he really is breathing OK. Still hard to hear it though. He has been getting morphine about every 1 to 2 hours to help with the pain and so even though he opens his eyes every once in a while, he is pretty drugged and out of it. He still has a low fever.
The main thing for the first 24 hours is to keep him comfortable. Please pray that he would cough and that the breathing treatments would do there job. This could be a long night, after a long day. We do have a Ronald McDonald room tonight, so Brice and I can take turns sleeping so that one of us will always be with Ethan. He has gotten fiesty a few times, sitting up in his bed and trying to pull on all the many tubes coming out of his body.
God has brought us a long ways since 6 a.m. this morning.
2:20p.m.
Praise God for his continued protection over Ethan. This day has been such a blur! We talked to the surgeon about 10:15 and he was very pleased with how the surgery went. He said it went better than he thought. He had told us that the surgery would last 3 to 5 hours, but it took just under 2 hours! WOW! There wasn’t as much scar tissue in the way, which was definitely good news for Ethan.We got to see Ethan for the first time at 10:45. He looked better than I thought, but it is still very tough to see your child all hooked up to stuff. He has four IV lines in – one in each foot, one in his left wrist and one in his neck. He is on the ventilator, but is off all sedation meds because they are letting him start to wake up, which will take a few hours. He has an NG tube down his nose that goes into his stomach to suck out all the acid so that he doesn’t get an upset stomach. Also, both his arms are restrained so that he doesn’t pull out the IV lines.
He has been moving and opening his eyes every once in a while, but still VERY sleepy. He woke up around 2pm for a little bit and was not happy. He was crying, but we can't hear anything because of the ventilator tube. That wore him out and so he is sleeping now.
Before leaving the OR, he was given an epidural for the pain (numbs him from the waist to just below the shoulders). He came out of the OR without being on any heart meds! WOW!
He has strong pulses in both of his feet, whereas, before the surgery, the cardiologist couldn’t feel his pulses – this was because the blood flow was restricted by the coarctation (narrowing). Blood was still flowing all the way down to his feet, just not at a strong rate.
Before leaving the OR, he was given an epidural for the pain (numbs him from the waist to just below the shoulders). He came out of the OR without being on any heart meds! WOW!
He has strong pulses in both of his feet, whereas, before the surgery, the cardiologist couldn’t feel his pulses – this was because the blood flow was restricted by the coarctation (narrowing). Blood was still flowing all the way down to his feet, just not at a strong rate.
He is running a low fever right now. Please pray that this is not a big deal.
For now, we are just hanging out and ready to comfort him when he wakes up. Thanks again to everyone for continuing to pray for our little guy. It means the world to us. There are no sufficient words to thank God or all of you.
9:35 a.m.
The surgeon is sewing Ethan back up. Everything went well and Ethan is doing great. The surgeon used a patch to fix the narrowing. We are so relieved that he was able to complete the surgery through the left side rather than having to do another open heart surgery.
Ethan will be transferred to the PICU. It will still be awhile before we can see him. The surgeon will come and talk to us when he is done with Ethan.
Please continue to pray for Ethan's protection as the next few hours after surgery are the most critical as the doctors and nurses try to get all his vitals regulated.
Praise God for bringing Ethan through his second (and hopefully last) heart surgery!
Ethan will be transferred to the PICU. It will still be awhile before we can see him. The surgeon will come and talk to us when he is done with Ethan.
Please continue to pray for Ethan's protection as the next few hours after surgery are the most critical as the doctors and nurses try to get all his vitals regulated.
Praise God for bringing Ethan through his second (and hopefully last) heart surgery!
8:45 a.m.
The nurse just came to say that Ethan is doing well, all his vitals are stable, Dr. O'Brien is "in" and things are progressing well. She didn't know if the surgeon was going to have to use the patch or not. She made it sound like it might be only another hour or so.
We are hanging out in the waiting room with both sets of grandparents, feeling God's presence and peace and so grateful that Ethan is being protected.
We are hanging out in the waiting room with both sets of grandparents, feeling God's presence and peace and so grateful that Ethan is being protected.
SURGERY IS UNDERWAY!
Just an update to let you know that we handed Ethan off to the cardiac surgery team at 7:15am and at 7:45, the nurse came to let us know that Ethan was asleep and had most of his IVs in and Dr. O'Brien was getting ready to begin.
Ethan was a little grumpy because he was hungry and thirsty, but he didn't even cry when we kissed him goodbye (I was crying!)
Thanks to everyone who prayed that Ethan would stay healthy. He had a little runny nose yesterday, but no one was concerned. We had a good night's sleep last night as well.
I'll post as we get updates from the nurse. Keep on praying!
Ethan was a little grumpy because he was hungry and thirsty, but he didn't even cry when we kissed him goodbye (I was crying!)
Thanks to everyone who prayed that Ethan would stay healthy. He had a little runny nose yesterday, but no one was concerned. We had a good night's sleep last night as well.
I'll post as we get updates from the nurse. Keep on praying!
Pre-Op Appointment this morning
Ethan made it through pre-op just fine. He was a champ during the blood work, sat still for the EKG and cried through the chest x-ray. We met with Ethan's surgeon and the anesthesiologist and a couple of cardiac surgery nurses.
Ethan's surgeon told us that he won't know the best way to "fix" the narrowing in the aorta until he gets in there. His first option will be to cut out the narrow part and sew the two wide ends back together, but there needs to be enough elasticity in the artery to make this work. If there isn't, the second option will be to cut open the narrow part and sew in a patch. This is what the surgeon did to Ethan's aortic arch in the first surgery.
The surgeon also told us that there is a chance that the scar tissue from Ethan's previous surgery could have calcified to a point where he can't cut through it. If this happens, he won't be able to do anything right then. He will sew him back up and then we will have to schedule an open heart surgery where he will completely redo what he did the first time. (I got sick to my stomach at this point.) He doesn't think this will be the case, but they try to prepare us as best as possible.
Ethan is the first case on Monday morning, so we need to be at the hospital at 6am, which means they will probably take him from us around 7 or 7:30 for surgery. We have heard that surgery could last anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. We have been told to plan on a hospital stay of 5 to 7 days. The two main things that will determine how long Ethan has to stay in the hospital will be the chest tube drainage and his blood pressure.
Please pray for protection over Ethan's health over the next couple of days and for wisdom for the surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurses and everyone else involved in the surgery.
I will be updating this blog whenever I get a chance, so please check back often to see what is going on.
Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in time of trouble."
Ethan's surgeon told us that he won't know the best way to "fix" the narrowing in the aorta until he gets in there. His first option will be to cut out the narrow part and sew the two wide ends back together, but there needs to be enough elasticity in the artery to make this work. If there isn't, the second option will be to cut open the narrow part and sew in a patch. This is what the surgeon did to Ethan's aortic arch in the first surgery.
The surgeon also told us that there is a chance that the scar tissue from Ethan's previous surgery could have calcified to a point where he can't cut through it. If this happens, he won't be able to do anything right then. He will sew him back up and then we will have to schedule an open heart surgery where he will completely redo what he did the first time. (I got sick to my stomach at this point.) He doesn't think this will be the case, but they try to prepare us as best as possible.
Ethan is the first case on Monday morning, so we need to be at the hospital at 6am, which means they will probably take him from us around 7 or 7:30 for surgery. We have heard that surgery could last anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. We have been told to plan on a hospital stay of 5 to 7 days. The two main things that will determine how long Ethan has to stay in the hospital will be the chest tube drainage and his blood pressure.
Please pray for protection over Ethan's health over the next couple of days and for wisdom for the surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurses and everyone else involved in the surgery.
I will be updating this blog whenever I get a chance, so please check back often to see what is going on.
Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in time of trouble."
Pediatrician Appointment Today
Ethan saw his pediatrician today for a physical (this is a requirement one week before surgery.) Everything looks good so far. Just keeping my fingers crossed that he didn't get exposed to something while we were in the office.
We would really appreciate your prayers that he would stay healthy. We don't plan on taking him anywhere else this week, hoping that this will minimize his exposure to sick germs.
The big day is exactly one week away.
We would really appreciate your prayers that he would stay healthy. We don't plan on taking him anywhere else this week, hoping that this will minimize his exposure to sick germs.
The big day is exactly one week away.
New Surgery Date - April 30th
Ethan's surgery has been postponed to April 30 because he got sick last weekend with Roseola. His pre-op will be on April 27. One of the things they will do is lab work. Since Ethan had this viral infection, his blood tests could be negatively affected (don't really understand this fully). If this happens, surgery will be postponed.
Obviously, it is very frustrating to keep postponing. This is Ethan's 3rd surgery date. The surgery nurse who I have been working with said that lots of kids have to reschedule 3 to 4 times, either because of sickness or they get bumped because an emergency comes up.
We would really appreciate your prayers that Ethan can stay healthy and that we can keep this new date. It doesn't only affect us, it affects our family and friends who will be helping us out during Ethan's surgery and recovery.
Just an example of God's protection - Ethan's first surgery date was April 5. Well, he started running a fever (the first stage of Roseola) on April 6 and the fever lasted for 3 days and then the rash broke out. God knew all along that Ethan shouldn't have surgery on the 5th because he would have been recovering from surgery while his weakened body was having to also fight off a virus.
God is in control, even though it doesn't always look like it to me.
Listen to the CMH Radio Spot
If you are interested, you can click on the "Listen to Radio Spot" link over on the right under "helpful links" and you will be able to hear the commercial. The sound quality is a little muffled, but this way you don't have to download a .mp3 file. Hope you enjoy it! It will continue to run on the radio through the first week of June.
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