Tuesday, April 23, 2013

2nd Surgery Complete

We are one big step forward in bringing this brave, amazing, happy little boy home with a repaired heart. This morning at about 8:30 they took Blake back to the operating room where he had his pace maker placed. He did great...this surgery was a sneeze compared to what he went through last week.

He came back around 12noon and after a quick echo of his heart we were able to be with him. Although sleepy, he was happy to be back. We were pleasantly surprised that he came back with no ventilator (the one they placed for his surgery they were able to take right back out because he did so well) and no chest tubes. He has been a little sick to his stomach and expressed a little discomfort but they are quick to do everything they can to make him comfortable.

His pace maker is set to 120-180 beats per minute but around 1:00 it started doing something funny and his heart rate was dropping to 106-115 which shouldn't happen. The EP doctors (also known as the pace maker dudes) quickly came and made some small adjustments to the software in his pace maker. They told us that it is a fairly common problem and they are going to check the pace maker again tomorrow and then once again before they let him go home. Checking the pace maker is completely painless for Blake....they essentially put something the size of a computer mouse on his chest which allows their computer to speak to his pace maker.

After 8 days in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit there is talk of moving us down to the floor tomorrow. Although that is such a good sign of how well he is doing it is honestly a bit scary. The nursing here is one-to-one and Blake's room now is right across from the central monitoring area where the doctors spend much of their time. I trust that he is doing really well but there is a comfort level with the care we have right here. It might be a bit of emotional attachment as well....you spend 12 hours with each of the nurses but the days seem so long that it feels like they are old friends. We have been blessed with the opportunity to come to Boston and have this repair done for Blake and blessed with the care that he has received.

3 comments:

  1. Good vibes to our little soldier! So glad to see the good news.

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  2. It does sound mostly positive, so happy!! Hope you guys are getting some rest, sounds like you may need it to keep up with him!!

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  3. Blake is so amazing! Thanks for taking the time to update us. I pray for him often throughout the day!

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