This doesn’t happen very often, I don’t have pictures to post today. I have spent the majority of the day at the hospital and most of my time here has been holding Brendan’s little hand and trying to help keep him be comfortable. He can power through most of the pain and sedation meds that they are able to give him without affecting his breathing and new circulation so he has been quite a bit more agitated today. The doctors are working to balance those meds again.
He made it through another day and stayed off the vent, but he is so close.. I was worried several times today but he is holding on.
His chest xray has been looking bad and they were talking about having to put in another chest tube for drainage. He had an ultrasound of his chest and it showed that there was only fluid on the bottom and back of his right lung and that it was not significant enough to go after with a tube at this point, they hoped that the diuretics will do their job instead and they will recheck him in the morning.
They stripped the dressing on his chest today and his incision is looking very good, that is a good thing! His early preliminary lung biopsy came back with a lot of negatives on tests for infection. (negative as in no infection not bad news!)
We keep being told that next week things will be looking a whole lot better. Of course right now, it seems like next week will never get here, the days are long and exhausting.

I miss Trevor very much, I got to spend a short time with him today and he is as cute as ever. I miss my brain, I am having trouble typing! Time to try to get some sleep in this awesome chair.

Brendan has been really rocking the boat today, just like they told us he would. We knew that the days following surgery were going to be tense and difficult, but I would say that we were much more stressed today watching them manage his situation than we were yesterday waiting for him.

But our anxiety aside, we focus on the positives. Brendan has (with lots of help!) met every goal they had for him after surgery. They turned off the paralytics this morning and allowed him to wake up. The first thing to move on Brendan was a little hand that reached up to grab the breathing tube. They gave him his beanie lion to keep his arms propped properly and to distract the fingers!
Brendan Recovery 1

The moment that he was recovered enough that he was opening his eyes to make real eye contact with me, they moved to extubate. The breathing tube came out at 2:10PM and he went on a regular high flow cannula. This picture is right before extubation.
Brendan Recovery 2

Unfortunately, he only lasted on the high flow for a few hours. He had several frightening episodes of desaturation and the doctors were kept on their toes all day tweaking medications to stabilize him. They had to switch him to the nasal cpap with a little pressure support.
Brendan Recovery 3

Brendan had a total fit of fury when the respiratory tech tried to put a chin strap on to keep his mouth closed. So to keep the cpap working properly, they gave him his pacifier and used a beanie baby train to keep it in place. And check out that IV manifold!
Brendan Recovery 4

So goals for today were to get extubated and stay off the ventilator. CHECK! Tonight as I type, his condition is rough, he is on maximum support and just maintaining his numbers properly but he succeeded. Go little Brendan!!

In sharp contrast, Trevor had a busy day of ultra fun, including a quick walk outside!

Thank you very much to everyone that has been posting positive messages, and praying and cheering for Brendan’s well being. It meant a lot to Bill and I to feel like we were not alone in the waiting room, we are glad that we were able to share the story as it unfolded. Isn’t technology great?
We are very grateful to Gramma for being so supportive and giving us total security that Trevor is safe and happy while we go through this.

Brendan has impressed the doctors so far, they expected his immediate post-op to be a bit rockier. They found his sweet spot quickly and have kept him nice and stable. His nurse/doctor/surgery team has been fabulous.
Here is the tricky part though – in the 6-8 hours after a heart/lung bypass machine, the body can struggle with the static/ion change in the blood from being outside the body. They call it “the slump” here. He is almost past that and is adjusting well. But in order to safely carry him through that, they have kept him heavily sedated and total paralyzed so that he can’t even breathe on his own, it is all done by the machines right now.

Soon tonight, they will start to wean the paralytic and he will start to breathe on his own over the vent. At that point, his body may naturally fight the high CO2 levels they are trying to keep him on and they will have to counter with different drugs. He may have airway compression issues so they could have to increase the pressure support, but that fights the new flow pattern of the blood in his body. It will be all about finding a balance – they really need to extubate him as soon as they can in order for the new circulation to work.
Just being able to move again, no matter how many pain meds they keep him on, will create new challenges. And when they allow him to finally be awake – lookout! He is going to be one hot-tempered Brendan and tell us all about it!

This was me holding Brendan this morning before surgery. That already feels like last week!! It was such a long day.

These next pictures are difficult to look at, although I am told that it will get worse. Tomorrow will be the worst day for post-operative swelling and he could balloon up pretty badly. Right now, he is looking pretty good, nice color all things considered, just COVERED in wires. Pictures start with a close up and then go to a wider and wider and wider view to see all the equipment and his room and the window with the beautiful view of the airport in front of the mountains.

Brendan Post-OP 1
Brendan Post-OP 2
Brendan Post-OP 3
Brendan Post-OP 4
Brendan Post-OP 5
Brendan Post-OP 6

We will continue to hope that he impresses the doctors more every day with his recovery. We can’t wait to get him through this painful time and back to being snuggled again. I will be staying overnight with him tonight, Bill will stay with him tomorrow and then we will go from there.

Tomorrow I will post Trevor pictures that Gramma took today. I miss that hilarious bundle of cuddles today!