Post-Op Day 2

Caroline had a comfortable day and night with a lot of much needed sleep. They started her on an IV pain med that is helping her a lot! She is still quite groggy, but slowly coming back to her playful self. This morning, she is awake intermittently, listening to stories, and reaching for our glasses......very nice to see glimmers of our Caroline coming back! She's also endured another round of tests, pokes, and prods to make sure her heart and lungs are recovering well from the surgery. Its not even 10:00 am and we've already completed a chest x-ray, blood draw, and EKG.

The cardiology team just rounded with us and gave us the plan for today. With some luck, her final chest tube and pacer wires well come out today. She's taking enough formula, that we can stop her IV fluids, and they want her up and playing as much as possible to keep her lungs nice and clear. All great things, and steps closer to going home. The team remains optimistic that we could be home by the end of the weekend. Let's keep praying that her recovery continues to go so smoothly. Thanks to everyone for helping us make it happen.

Resting comfortably

Much to our chagrin, they hurried us out of the ICU this morning (its comforting to have your own personal bedside nurse!). However, we're thrilled that Caroline is doing well and fit to leave the ICU. We are now on the "surgical floor," the last stop before going home; however, we anticipate we'll be here at least a couple of days before that will happen. Caroline is finally resting very peacefully and we are all quite relieved that she has fewer lines and tubes sticking out of her body. Her fever is gone and her vitals remain quite stable. All is well and we couldn't be happier with the way things are progressing today.

Thanks everyone for sending us positive energy. Your comments and well-wishes are helping tremendously. Can't wait to send out some more good news!

Morning Update

Caroline is doing great. Her vitals are perfect and the nurses are starting to pull out lines as I type! She had a bit of a rough stretch trying to stay comfortable, especially in the early morning hours. They've given her some new pain meds and she is much more comfortable now. She is running a bit of a fever, but this is completely normal for anyone coming out of a major surgery. The power went out at Children's last night, so we didn't have AC most of the night......definitely didn't help her fever! If all continues to go so well, we'll be out of the ICU by tonight....wow!

Good Night

We just spoke with the surgeon and he said everything went well. The surgery is officially over and Caroline is in the ICU. She's even off the breathing tube already! We will be able to see Caroline in just a few minutes. What a long day......thanks for hanging with us through all of our delays. Dr. Permut was very happy with her outcome and we can't wait to be with our little girl. I can't say we're out of the woods yet, but all indications seem to be that she's doing well so far. What a sigh of relief!

She's off Bypass!

We just received report that Caroline is off the heart/lung machine and they are finishing up the final details of the surgery. We haven't talked with the surgeon yet, but the brief report said that she did well! Thank you everyone for all of your support and prayers. They worked!

Progressing

We received our first page. Caroline is on the heart/lung machine and the actual "open heart" part of the procedure has started. Everything is going fine so far.

Caroline's in Surgery!

I never thought I would feel so relieved to have Caroline go in to surgery. They took her back to the OR at 5:15. She was a trooper! She did way better than her parents. She was mostly happy and playful the entire 5 hours we were waiting at the hospital....amazing! Let's keep our fingers crossed the surgery goes more quickly than our wait.....

In case anyone is still watching the blog, I'll continue to update you on how she is progressing through the surgery.