Post-Op Update

Many many praises to report and expand on. Our God is so good.

April had a relatively smooth night. She opened her eyes for the first time around 6:40pm last night which was nice for Mommy to see. I wasn’t expecting her to wake up at all until this morning! However, she was awake intermittently throughout the night and they took her breathing tube out at 1:40am. She is doing everything she is supposed to be and everyone is very pleased! She really looks great. Dr. Fox (our primary surgeon) came by this morning and okayed her for some water (which she had asked for last night). When I gave her the water cup she POUNDED about 10 ounces in two separate guzzles. We tried to get her to take it slower, but man, that made her mad! However, her belly handled all that water like a champ, so no worries. Next we’ll try some milk and then hopefully some light food.

Since she is such a Momma’s girl, and the more she wakes up the more she wants me and to be held by me, our nurse Kirby was sweet enough to suggest and obtain an adult sized bed so I can lay with her. Makes both of these ladies feel better and I think I’ll be getting quite a bit more sleep tonight as a result. Overall, everyone here at Dell has been beyond amazing. I’m humbled by their expertise and care for our daughter.

A little more on our day yesterday: I had two good friends join us at the hospital and wait with us during her surgery. LeeAnn is actually a PICU nurse on the heart floor and has been an amazing source of information on how this all works. She even picked our room for us and choose all of our nurses. Jen came up too and I have to say, the three of us (and Mike too) had a great time. Way more fun and laughing than should be allowed given the circumstances!! The two of them ended up being the perfect combo for keeping my mind off things and made the time just fly by. We were also blessed by our pastor and his wife before surgery and Mike’s cousin just after.

Some more info on the surgery results: I didn’t have the time or energy to update fully via my phone what Dr. Fox told us when we saw him right after the surgery yesterday. The first words out of his mouth were, “Her heart was huge.” Turns out her heart was twice the size it should have been (now it is normal size) and beating two to three times more often. The defect was more significant than they originally thought. This makes us EXTERMELY happy that we decided to have it fixed now rather than later later (they said we could wait until she was closer to four, but that didn’t feel right to either Mike or me. Now I know why!!). Her valve has also been fixed. Dr. Fox is very pleased with how everything went and said, “She’ll be a different child.” I’m a little curious to see exactly HOW different she’ll be! One more huge praise to add to all of this has to do with the artery they were watching; if the fix didn’t correct the slight narrowing of this aretery there was a chance that further surgeries would be needed. However, it appears that repair did correct this and there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think she’ll need further surgeries!! “She now has a normal, well-functioning heart.” I can’t tell you what a relief this is. All in all things could not have gone better. We’re over the moon with the results so far and they couldn’t be more pleased with how it went and how she is doing. Thank you Jesus!!

Also, let me add just how much we appreciate all the prayers, emails, texts, phone calls. The prayers especially were truly felt as I should have been a wreck the whole morning of and afternoon through the surgery. But I wasn’t. And April handled the morning wonderfully. I KNOW this was God’s hand in answer to y’alls prayers. Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, for lifting us and our daughter up in prayer and for loving us like you all have. We’re aren’t out of the woods yet, so keep them coming! Hopefully we’ll be home soon. What a mighty God we serve!!!!

Update: 2:30p – As of noon today she is completely off oxygen and she just ate some ice cream. She’s also been sitting up well and getting some good, productive, and not-too-painful coughs in! Oh, and one more thing – she’s decided to cut one of her I-teeth.

“Soverign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do?” Deuteronomy 3:24