Day after day, little Charlotte continues to amaze me! She is doing great after her long day of surgery last week, and continues to make small strides every day.
Because her procedure was so long and she was on the bypass machine for a prolonged period of time, the surgeons were concerned that she would have LOTS of swelling post-op. If they would have closed up her incision right away, the swelling could have put a significant amount of pressure on her little heart and lungs. Because of this, at the end of surgery they left an opening in Charlotte's chest. Through the weekend our little rockstar surprised everyone and didn't swell up like they expected and today she got to have the "official" chest closure. They came and transformed her room in the PICU into a mini surgical suite around 2 this afternoon and she was all fixed up in no time. So far she has tolerated the closure very well and looks great! Just one more step in the right direction.
They are thinking about repeating her heart cath either later this week or early next week to follow up on all of the work they did. Hopefully they see good things and we can continue to plug forward.
While I'm thinking of it, I just want to mention how wonderful everyone at Children's has been. The doctors are amazing and I have yet to come across a nurse that doesn't go above and beyond. We are so fortunate to have such an incredible team taking care of our little girl!
Hi Kristen. Don't know if you saw my post on facebook but my daughter was born at 26 weeks and we had a very rough, roller coaster ride for 4 months straight. I wanted to share that I totally empathize with what you are going through. It is a scary, hard road. So much love for your baby that you want to take home so badly! And then there is all permutations and combinations of possibilities and setbacks. This will be the hardest thing you will have to do but one day soon, you will be living like any other mother learning and loving your baby. Keep on as you both are and as you have already learned its best to take some time to break down and let it go. Then you get a grip again and continue the journey. Please feel free to contact me if you want to talk. mishaearle@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHere is Kira's link too......http://mishae.zenfolio.com/f95133019
love to you three,
Misha