Brendan’s surgery went well today, although it was a very very long wait to hear the news. The banding is complete and they restricted the flow through the pulmonary artery quite a bit.
Once we heard that surgery was done, we were asked to leave his room while they brought him back and got him all reconnected. There would be a large group of people involved and we would be in the way.
Over an hour and a half later, Bill went to check to see if they had forgotten us.
The delay came in the switch over to an all new bank of high-tech IV pumps. There are putting these new pumps through a trial this week and since he was being all disconnected, they switched his all out.
He is so difficult to look at post-op. He is absolutely full of fluids and his whole body is swollen up. That swelling should be gone in a few days and the lasix that he is on will help.
He has a few new things now –
His IV that they just finally got restarted in his arm went bad again. They tried to get one started in his scalp and couldn’t, and finally got another in the arm.
They opened his chest for surgery, so he has a nice new scar and dressing and a drainage tube coming out. They also added another new central line with two lumens. This one was put in to his chest while he was under anesthesia and it goes straight in to his heart and ends in his right atrium. He also has these little leads attached on both sides of his chest so that if it were necessary, they can connect an external pacemaker and control his heartbeat.

We called for an update tonight at 10PM and he was still stable and they were happy with his numbers. They are even talking about trying to extubate him tomorrow. We are going to try to get there early enough for rounds so that we can be there when they make the decision.

Trevor had a wonderful day, he doing what babies should do – eat, sleep & poop.

Bill and I are fully exhausted, mentally and physically. It was such a long day of waiting and wondering. I felt a lot of guilt about leaving the hospital and not staying with Brendan, but getting home to get food and rest and spend time with Trevor was important too. I can’t believe the boys are 3 weeks old now and we are starting the 4th week of our adventure.

Pictures

Brendan pre-op – they tried to put one of their paper ID bands on him, but it is a little big.

Brendan post-op 1

Just when you thought there could not be any more tubes and wires, they come up to do an EKG. Once all those were connected, he truly looked like a spaghetti monster.
Brendan post-op 2

Brendan’s new bank of IV pumps

If your baby’s changing table does not have a mirror on it, you should seriously get one. Trevor is hypnotized by his reflection every time he is on the table.

I was taking too long, Trevor is begging for food like a little baby bird.

The time has finally arrived. Brendan has faced so many obstacles and made it through them all so far. In about an hour, he is headed to the OR for his first heart repair procedure. They are doing the pulmonary banding that will reduce the blood flow going to his lungs and give a boost to the flow going to his body. This should also stop the seeping of fluid to his lungs so that he can get off the vent. We’ll be anxiously waiting for him to come out of surgery.

Trevor had a wonderful first night at home. Today he is getting utterly spoiled and cuddled by Gramma while Bill and I are at the hospital. He is eating very well, still working on breastfeeding. He is gaining weight every day and has his first pediatrician appointment on Thursday. The dogs don’t know what to think of all this. They have sniffed the baby and always come look when he makes noise. They have no idea what they are in for when we bring home another one and they start to grow into dog chasing, tail pulling monsters!