Heart Surgery - Day of

Callie's Heart surgery went well today. The surgeons were very happy with the procedure. She was the first of 4 cases this week. The Milwaukee team comes to Marshfield for 1 week every 2 months. She was brought back around 8am. The actual surgery was about 30-60 minutes however all the prep and closing is what takes the time. They have to do an echo (heart ultrasound) before and after the surgery to get a good baseline. They also placed a chest tube for the blood in the cavity to drain alone with pacer wires. These are little wires they will pull before we go home. If they need to change the pace her heart is beating they can hook the wires up to a little device to change it. We were able to see here around 2pm. I always hate the first few hours out of surgery. They decided to leave the intubation tube in over night to help her breath. This means they need to keep her sedated. They have to figure out what the right amount of medication is to keep her sedated yet not too deep. It is always hard while she is trying to fight to wake up and is choking and coughing on the tube. By 4 they had it all figured out.

They have been watching her very closely this evening. Her blood pressure kept creeping down little by little. It is always hard trying to figure out if it is the medication, low fluid, heart rate or who know what? They gave her some extra fluid which helped, but did not completely do the trick. The surgeon just happened to be on the floor so he also came in. When she came out of surgery her heart rate was around 130. It had dropped to 113. They decided to hook up the pacer wires to help increase her heart rate back up to 130. She will stay hooked up until tomorrow. Her blood pressure also increased with the change in pace so that was all good. The PICU doctor explained it to me which really helped. He did mention this is the exact reason they put the pacer wires in. It is not uncommon to need to use them. Callie's body is getting used to her "new" heart along with the extra stress it just went through.

Also, Callie's hemoglobin has slowly been decreasing through out the day. Ideally they would like it between 10-12. She was at 8 so they decided to give her some blood. Thank you to all the people that are always donating blood. This is the second surgery in 3 months Callie has needed blood.

As I sit her and reflect on the day I am glad to say this day is almost over. I have learned so much more about a heart than I ever thought I would. Some days I wish I was a nurse just so I would know what all of this means. Other days I am so grateful I am not as it would just add worry. Thankfully we have had a great team of doctors and nurses to constantly answer "What does that mean?" I must sound like a broken record today. She really is doing well considering everything she has been through.

Tomorrow they will most likely pull Callie's breathing tube and she will lose some of the IV lines going into her body. She currently has 4 different access points to her body with 14 lines going into her. Slowly those will decrease. Some are heart medications, others are fluids, antibiotics, blood and some that I really have no idea.

As soon as she is feeling better I will post some pictures. I do not want to overwhelm any one with all the lines so I will not post any right now. Please say an extra prayer for healing and strength. For now I am going to try and get some rest among the beeps.