I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly did, even though we spent it at the hospital. Emerson has been doing very well recently. The doctors were able to get her chest closed on Wednesday and ever since she has been able to get rid of a lot of the extra fluids that she was hanging on to!!! She is actually looking like herself again, except for her belly, which is still very swollen.
Her heart functions have been very good, and her pressure and heart rate have been stable! Yay!!
The doctors say that when she gets rid of a bit more fluid then they can start thinking about extubating her and letting her wake up a little bit. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!! I miss this baby so much!
Emmy has had no more problems with irregular heartbeats, knock on wood.....and hopefully will continue to behave herself. We'll see, the doctors have already come to find that they cannot trust this one!!! :)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
It's Been A Rough Time
Emerson's heart surgery was scheduled to take place on Thursday, November 12th. After the induction of anesthesia, Emerson went into cardiac arrest and needed chest compressions for about 11 minutes. She was brought out of it, but the doctors were unable to continue with the surgery. After this incident, Emmy was brought into the Cardiac ICU, where she remained through the weekend. She did really well, and recovered very quickly. Saturday evening she was a bit awake and moving around, babbling.
Emerson went back to the operating room Monday morning at 7:30. She went under anesthesia fine this time!! Yay! The doctors were able to complete the surgery and remove Emerson from the bypass machine without any problems. The doctors closed up her chest. Once she was off the bypass machine she went into cardiac arrest again. This time it only lasted for a few minutes and she was able to be brought out of it with lots of fluid and medications. After this incident, the surgeon decided to open Emerson's chest back up to relieve her heart of pressure, due to the surgery and all the fluids. After this, she was moved back up into the Cardiac ICU. Immediately after she arrived, she went into cardiac arrest again. The doctors were able to bring her out again, then prevent her from going into a third incident of cardiac arrest.
The surgery itself was considered a success. Emerson has virtually no obstruction in her Aorta and her proximal Pulmonary Arteries were widened considerably.
I had no idea that the toughest part of this surgery for us was going to be the recovery. Emmy has had a very rocky week. We found out that she has an extra electrical charge that causes her heart beat to become dangerously fast out of nowhere. The doctors are controlling it now with medications, and she has also had to be put temporarily on a pacemaker. She has had to be given 5 liters of fluid to keep her pressures stable, and as a result, she looks like a balloon...poor baby!!
She has been give Lasix, a medication to help her body rid of the fluids, and is starting to look better. She also suffered Kidney and Liver damage, and is slowly recovering from that.
Emerson has been very stable now for the last 24 hours and we think that she is finally on the road to recovery. The doctors are hoping to close up her chest early next week. We are planning on being in the hospital for another month because her doctors are being extremely conservative with her treatment, due to her flare-ups.
Emerson is finally looking like herself again, in the face anyway, and the nurses gave her a purple bow for her hair for FINALLY being such a good !!!
Emerson went back to the operating room Monday morning at 7:30. She went under anesthesia fine this time!! Yay! The doctors were able to complete the surgery and remove Emerson from the bypass machine without any problems. The doctors closed up her chest. Once she was off the bypass machine she went into cardiac arrest again. This time it only lasted for a few minutes and she was able to be brought out of it with lots of fluid and medications. After this incident, the surgeon decided to open Emerson's chest back up to relieve her heart of pressure, due to the surgery and all the fluids. After this, she was moved back up into the Cardiac ICU. Immediately after she arrived, she went into cardiac arrest again. The doctors were able to bring her out again, then prevent her from going into a third incident of cardiac arrest.
The surgery itself was considered a success. Emerson has virtually no obstruction in her Aorta and her proximal Pulmonary Arteries were widened considerably.
I had no idea that the toughest part of this surgery for us was going to be the recovery. Emmy has had a very rocky week. We found out that she has an extra electrical charge that causes her heart beat to become dangerously fast out of nowhere. The doctors are controlling it now with medications, and she has also had to be put temporarily on a pacemaker. She has had to be given 5 liters of fluid to keep her pressures stable, and as a result, she looks like a balloon...poor baby!!
She has been give Lasix, a medication to help her body rid of the fluids, and is starting to look better. She also suffered Kidney and Liver damage, and is slowly recovering from that.
Emerson has been very stable now for the last 24 hours and we think that she is finally on the road to recovery. The doctors are hoping to close up her chest early next week. We are planning on being in the hospital for another month because her doctors are being extremely conservative with her treatment, due to her flare-ups.
Emerson is finally looking like herself again, in the face anyway, and the nurses gave her a purple bow for her hair for FINALLY being such a good !!!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Surgery Day :(
Emerson's cardiologists have decided that the best course of treatment is open-heart surgery. Emerson will undergo this surgery on Thursday November 12th. The goal of the surgery is to remove the obstruction that is growing into her Aorta. The surgery will take 6-8 hours and hopefully she will be so much healthier afterward. I will try to keep everyone updated!
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Who knew they made hospital gowns for babies?!?
