Because surgery was scheduled for first thing in the morning, Hunter's Mommy and Daddy were given a hotel room to stay in the night before around the corner from the hospital and asked if I would stay with them after our little "trick-or-treating" visits. Knowing another stressful time was a short time away, needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of restlful sleep going to happen. I believe Hunter slept pretty well, but the rest of us didn't. The alarm went off very early, but as you can see, even early, he was awake and ready to play!
On our Gatinburg trip we had shirts made for Hunter's Heart and HLHS awareness, here is Hunter sporting his new shirt on his day.
We had Hunter's Heart, Heart Mom and Heart Grandma, all were being worn with pride and in support for our little heart hero!
We all arrived at the Surgery Suite for check in and to start the pre-op procedures, which included the dreaded peach patient gown for Hunter! At 6:30 am he really didn't mind, as you can see below in Mommy's arms!
Daddy was pretty tired, too!
It wasn't long before the nurses were ready to transport to the surgery floor. Hunter was able to stay in Mommy's arms as long as possible. They rode up on the surgery cart together. Such as sweet little face under that paci!
The surgery started at approximately 8:00 am. It is so difficult to hand over a child, especially one that has already been through so much. It is more difficult when you know there are so many risks involved with the procedures about to take place (HLHS). As we waited, the surgery staff updated family as to how things were going. Each update was positive.
This surgery procedure is #2 of 3, that we know Hunter will have to have. This is the Glenn procedure, or Hemi Fontan which leads to the final Fontan Procedure.
Approximately 4 hours later, Hunter was out of surgery and recovering. All went well, he was off the heart/lung machine with no problem. It wasn't long before the surgery nurse was coming out to take us back up the waiting room over at Peyton Mannings Childrens Hospital. That meant that we would soon get to see him and his battle scar again.
When they attempt to take him off the vent, it is a time that I hold my breath. After his first surgery when they attempted to take him off the vent, and were unsuccessful, it was very distressing. You could tell that he was trying to breathe but his little body was just not ready and his sats would drop too low and set alarms off. A sound and a feeling I will never forget. So an easy extubation is always good news! And we had good news! They kept him sedated and on a paralytic to enable his little body some time to rest and recover.
On the morning following surgery, he appeared to be very agitated. He was moaning, his little body was squirming and he was rolling his head. It was distressing to see him so fretful. When great- grandma came to visit that evening and the nurse came into give him some of his pain medication, GiGi's past nursing career helped figure out what was wrong . He was allergic to the morphine that was being given to him, he was literally itching on the inside. Once they starting giving him some benedryl and changed his pain meds, he rested so much easier and we could all breath a little easier, too. There is no feeling worse than helplessness, especially when a small child cannot verbally tell you what is wrong or how they are feeling.
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| It was so good to see him finally resting peacefully! |
Amazing how things can change when all is right! This is what I saw the following morning, all awake and pulling on tubes and anything else he could get! He pulled out his IV, so they put his shirt back on him to prevent him from pulling on anything on his chest. So good to see those beautiful blue eyes again!
All things kept going in the right direction. He was moved out to the post surgery floor on Friday. It is amazing at how quickly these little guys can bounce back from such an intense surgery. It wasn't long till he was watching cartoons, laughing and playing in his crib. Once Saturday morning came and the cardiologist had seen him, they were discharging him to go home!
Wow, can you imagine? Open heart surgery on Tuesday and home on Saturday! Absolutely amazing!
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