Late Saturday night

Breathing tube back in around 11:15 p.m.  She was unable to move all the fluid out of her chest cavity by herself.  The breathing tube will expand her lungs in order to move all the fluid out.  Long day has turned into a long night.

Saturday evening

Rachel's "blood-gas" came back looking good, however, the bottom portion of the left lung is collapsed.  The right lung has fluid and the doctors are trying to keep it from collapsing too.  They have been aggressive in treating the fluid build-up and as a last resort, may have to put the breathing tube back in.  She has been able to sit-up twice today, each time for over an hour and a half and that has helped some.  The doctors have said that other than the fluid, she looks good and "all the numbers" look good.  Still running a slight fever.  They did a blood and urine culture but we won't know the results of that for several days.

Evening

Well, a decent day has turned into an eventful evening.  She began having problems coughing and the last chest x-ray showed fluid building up so they have put her on the Bi-Pap machine for the night to help open up her lungs.  Hopefully, she will rest good tonight since she has been rather restless all day today.  Already, the Bi-Pap machine seems to be helping as it has improved her O2 stats.

Another one gone

At about 6:45, they took out the "heart-line" that measures the pressures in the left atrium.  Also, the plan is to take out the catherer tomorrow morning and have her sit up for a while.  There is also a slight chance that they may remove the chest tubes but if not tomorrow then either Sunday or Monday.  She seems to be progressing really well.

Friday afternoon

Rachel has been off of the breathing machine since 11:00 a.m. this morning and has been drinking some water and even a cup of apple juice since and she has kept it down.  The nurse has cut down on her IV fluids and is beginning to allow her to drink more.  She can even have another cup of apple juice later on.

Its gone

WooHoo!  The breathing-tube is out!!!  They extubated her around 11:00 a.m. and took the NG tube out as well.  She has the nasal canular in on about 35-40% oxygen and has now starting eating ice-chips although she wants to gulp some water.......probably not a good thing for now.  Both the surgeon and her cardiologist has been by and both have said she looks great and seems to be doing well.  Here is a pic of without the breathing tube so we can see that pretty face.

Post Surgery

Met with Dr. Bleiweis (surgeon) around 6:30. He was very pleased with the surgery. He was able to lower her pressures in her heart  and as well as close off the VSD (hole in the heart) and replace the pulmonary valve.  This is what he had planned to do, there were no unexpected surprises.  He is hopeful to take the breathing tube out tomorrow morning (Friday Morning) and let her start waking up. After being at the hospital since almost 6;00 am we are calling it a night. Thanks everyone for your prayers. God is good all the time.On a side note please be in prayer for all the families in the PICU.

Update

They are putting in pacer wires now. It will be about 6:15 before they are completely done. She will be moved to the PICU on the 10th floor.

Surgery

As of 3:15 they were finishing up the stitching  the valve  into place and fixing to take her off the by-pass machine.  They are hoping to be completely finished with surgery by 5:00 but it will be about another hour or so before we can see her after that. Thanks for your prayers.

Surgery is a Go

We are still on for surgery after all; no postponement.  We are done with with pre-op appointment and have to be over to meet with anesthia (I'm sure that's not spell correctly) at 1:00 p.m.  We are to report to the hospital at 6:15 in the morning and they anticipate taking her back to the OR around 8:00 a.m.  They said to expect at least 8 hours, maybe a little less maybe a little more.  She will be in the PICU on the 10th floor after surgery.

April 26th

We are heading out for Gainesville but not certain whether the surgery will happen on Thursday or whether it may be postponed.  There is a chance that we may get "bumped" for a heart transplant patient.  If they find a heart for the heart-transplant recipient before Thursday, they will postpone her surgery.  If not, then will are still on.

Rachel's surgery

Hi all:

To let everyone know, we leave for Shands on Tuesday evening in order to be over for Rachel's pre-op appointment at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  We should find out later Wednesday evening what time to be over there for her surgery on Thursday.
The surgery is for Dr. Bleweis, the same surgeon from last time, to replace the pulmonary valve that he replaced five years ago due to leakage and narrowing.  This is not unexpected as he told us after her last surgery that it would need to be replaced.  Also, he plans on sealing off at least a couple of holes in her heart that they have purposely left open in the past.
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