48-Hours Later.....YEAH!

Kate has now made it past the 48-hour post surgery mark. Tolerating the trauma that was done to her body is a really big step towards recovery and coming home. Today didn't bring much change though. We do think she looks a little less swollen, and there are different signs that she is healing, such as her heart hate is dropping, her blood pressure is getting easier to regulate with less drugs, and she is using less and less of the ventilator for help in breathing. All signs she is healing and her heart is getting stronger. Unfortunately, she is still having problems with an irregular heart rate. Her upper and lower hearts continue to have a hard time taking to one another. For those of you with medical backgrounds, we were told it is her P-wave in the heart rhythm which is the electrical signal that continues to fire whenever it feels like it. She is also having a hard time maintaining blood pressure satisfactory to the doctors, but all of these issues are typical for the first 3-5 days after this type of surgery. Today, they had to give Kate a temporary paralyzing drug to keep her still. As her sedation medication wears off, she becomes very active, and the risk of pulling out IV's and other tubes that help drain the fluid increase. Also, increased movement causes her heart rate to change and blood pressure to rise. So, the least amount of movement, the better.

We continue to hear that everything looks good and that her healing is going in the right direction, which we are very grateful for. Of course the waiting and watching for us seems very long and unbearable at times. We can't express enough gratitude and amazement for the doctors, nurses and other staff members at Primary Children's. With the small understanding that we have of what has been done in this surgery, it is an absolute miracle. Being able to correct the structures of Kate's heart, which is about the size of a walnut, is amazing.