Sorry it took so long to update, I wanted to make sure how she did overnight and have been trying to keep up with visitors and calls. Her open heart surgery went great without any complications. Claire got back to her room around 5pm and we first got the chance to see her around 6. Our surgeon, Dr. Hammel, said that everything with her CoArc repair went well. He was able to remove the stint with only cutting out some surrounding tissue that it grew into and stretch the tissue around the CoArc to widen it without using any other fabric or graphs. Dr Hammel said that in addition to removing the stint and widening the aortic arch he found a Anomolous Coronary Artery that was coming of of the Aorta and was connected to the Pulmonary Artery. Basically this means an extra artery that was wrapped behind the aorta and mixing up pressures. He closed this artery off and that solved the surprise problem. Dr Hammel thought that this might be our answer to why upon admission she presented herself so severely and had the muscle rigidity and organ failure. Usually CoArcs have symptoms mild such as poor feeding, reduced blood pressure in the lower extremities, not tolerating exercise, headache or leg pains after exertion, and chest pains or palpitations. Shortly after returning to our new Room in the 2nd Floor PICU (Room 212) Claire had another Head Ultrasound that was stable. Overnight her blood pressures went from high to low and they ordered a chest X-Ray and Echo and found that she had some effusion (bleeding) around her heart. Dr Hammel and his surgical team came back up into our room this morning around 10:30 and had to reopen her chest, drain the blood, re-suture things, and stitch her up. Since then she is doing better and her blood pressure and blood gases have been good and stable. We will start to wean her off the ventilator within the 24-48 hours. After she gets off the ventilator they will try to start up her breast milk continuous feeds again and we will keep recovering and try to get back to the 5th Floor. She had a visit from Rafferty Bear at Centris this afternoon. While she is recovering in the PICU we are trying to limit visitors so we all can relax and hopefully this blog keeps you informed of her progress.
3 comments:
Halleluia!!Sounds good-God Bless Claire and all of you. Hope that each day brings strength and good health to Claire.Glad that things have gone so well-and will continue that way. Bless Her - she is a little miracle. Love Pat
SO glad to hear things went well... we've been waiting, hoping and praying. We'll continue to pray for Claire's speedy recovery!
Little Claire,
You have everyone's full attention now! I am so glad that your mommy and daddy can keep up with you! No more problems! No more open hearts this week! Rest and eat up little girl. I'm sure your parents can't wait to hear your sweet cry again(being extubated)! Isn't it crazy you just want to hear your baby cry? I want to see pictures of you with pink chubby cheeks and dimpled thighs! Hang in there! You will only go up from here! The Millers, p.s. love the soothing motions glider-life saver, saw it in one of her pics!
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