Success.
We have had a crazy few days. Amelie was in at sick kids on Tuesday getting all her pre-surgery stuff done (x-rays, blood work, ecg's, etc. All went well and we got through there rather quickly. the good news from that day was that Amelie's blood pressures looked completely normal and that her VSD (the hole in her heart) started closing on it's own. That night was hard. Geordie was very positive but I felt pretty anxious although I knew everything would be great. So they asked us to get there early on Wednesday just in case there was a cancellation and indeed there was. So instead of going in for surgery at 11am she went in at 7:45. the nurses fought over who got to carry her in. It was hard passing her off. The procedure took about 2.5 hours and we waited in her room and watched a movie to calm our nerves. My parents showed up and we all waited together in her room. The doctor came in and told us that she was doing really well. She said she was unable to stretch the whole area in her aorta that was constricted, but that they got most of it. She said that she may need to get the procedure done again in 6 months to a year, but that she will not have to have open heart surgery which is great news. We went down to the surgical waiting room and they called us in. We saw the sweet miss who seemed very calm. She looked at us a few times and then slept for a while. When she woke up she took a good feed and kept it down. Geordie went back upstairs with my parents and I stayed with Amelie in recovery for 2 hours. When we got back upstairs Amelie was pretty calm and awake. She seemed happy to see her visitors. The day was passing and she became more and more herself again. She had lots of visitors and the nurses were goo goo over her. We ended up staying overnight due to her age.
Here's where things get crazy.
So Amelie was a part of a study where the next day they had to do an ultrasound of her incision. The ultrasound took longer than they had told me it would take and I had a feeling there was something wrong. We went back up to our room and the doctors came in. At this point they were supposed to be letting us go home. They said that they found something in the ultrasound that was not normal. They said that when they were going through to the artery, they accidentally pierced one of her veins and made a pathway from the vein to the artery. They said they were going to give manual pressure for 45 minutes and hopefully that would close it. So Amelie's wonderful Nurse Amy came and put pressure for 45 minutes and Amelie was happy as a clam. As a matter of fact the only time she had cried in these fast few days was when they took blood from her. She's such a trooper. Anyway, at this point we had to go for another ultrasound. I went down with her and they had another look. Afterwards, they didn't let me go back upstairs. I had a feeling that Geordie should come down. They called him down. All of a sudden things happened very quickly they took us in a room and hooked Amelie up to a lot of machines. A woman came in and asked the last time she ate. I told her 5 minutes ago and she looked unhappy. She asked us how she dealt with the anesthetic yesterday. I said, " Fine. Why?.......are you putting her to sleep for something?". She said "yes". I said "Why?". She told us that the doctor would come and explain it to us. The doctor came in and told us that her artery was tunneling to her skin and basically that very soon her artery would be open and that they had to insert this stuff to clot it. They called it a pseudo anurism (sp?). Then 2 nurses came and once again fought over who got to carry her. This time was definitely harder to hand her off. We were pretty confused, shocked, and I was anxious. We asked how long this would take and they told us between 1-4 hours. I went back up to her room and had a good cry. By the time I had pulled myself together the phone rang. It was the doctor saying he was done and that everything went exactly the way he wanted. We went back down to the surgical waiting room and went to see Amelie. This time when she woke up she was very smiley and full of beans. We waited for an hour this time in recovery and went back up to her room. She was so energetic she was kicking up a storm and making raspberry's like they were going out of style. My Dad looked at her and said "Sorry, didn't you just come out of surgery?" She actually seemed even better than before she went in (?). She had more visitors and was very happy to see everyone. She ate well and was looking really great. We woke up this morning and got some breakfast. Her nurse came and took her away to go for a visit with all the other nurses so we could eat. Then the doctors came in and said that she looked amazing and that we could go home. We were very happy to hear this news. Everyone was sad to see her go, but I can't tell you how great it is to be home. Anyway, that's our craaaaaazy story, but in the end Amelie is doing wonderfully and we don't have to go back to sick kids for 6 months. Look below for some pictures!
TTFN
We have had a crazy few days. Amelie was in at sick kids on Tuesday getting all her pre-surgery stuff done (x-rays, blood work, ecg's, etc. All went well and we got through there rather quickly. the good news from that day was that Amelie's blood pressures looked completely normal and that her VSD (the hole in her heart) started closing on it's own. That night was hard. Geordie was very positive but I felt pretty anxious although I knew everything would be great. So they asked us to get there early on Wednesday just in case there was a cancellation and indeed there was. So instead of going in for surgery at 11am she went in at 7:45. the nurses fought over who got to carry her in. It was hard passing her off. The procedure took about 2.5 hours and we waited in her room and watched a movie to calm our nerves. My parents showed up and we all waited together in her room. The doctor came in and told us that she was doing really well. She said she was unable to stretch the whole area in her aorta that was constricted, but that they got most of it. She said that she may need to get the procedure done again in 6 months to a year, but that she will not have to have open heart surgery which is great news. We went down to the surgical waiting room and they called us in. We saw the sweet miss who seemed very calm. She looked at us a few times and then slept for a while. When she woke up she took a good feed and kept it down. Geordie went back upstairs with my parents and I stayed with Amelie in recovery for 2 hours. When we got back upstairs Amelie was pretty calm and awake. She seemed happy to see her visitors. The day was passing and she became more and more herself again. She had lots of visitors and the nurses were goo goo over her. We ended up staying overnight due to her age.
Here's where things get crazy.
So Amelie was a part of a study where the next day they had to do an ultrasound of her incision. The ultrasound took longer than they had told me it would take and I had a feeling there was something wrong. We went back up to our room and the doctors came in. At this point they were supposed to be letting us go home. They said that they found something in the ultrasound that was not normal. They said that when they were going through to the artery, they accidentally pierced one of her veins and made a pathway from the vein to the artery. They said they were going to give manual pressure for 45 minutes and hopefully that would close it. So Amelie's wonderful Nurse Amy came and put pressure for 45 minutes and Amelie was happy as a clam. As a matter of fact the only time she had cried in these fast few days was when they took blood from her. She's such a trooper. Anyway, at this point we had to go for another ultrasound. I went down with her and they had another look. Afterwards, they didn't let me go back upstairs. I had a feeling that Geordie should come down. They called him down. All of a sudden things happened very quickly they took us in a room and hooked Amelie up to a lot of machines. A woman came in and asked the last time she ate. I told her 5 minutes ago and she looked unhappy. She asked us how she dealt with the anesthetic yesterday. I said, " Fine. Why?.......are you putting her to sleep for something?". She said "yes". I said "Why?". She told us that the doctor would come and explain it to us. The doctor came in and told us that her artery was tunneling to her skin and basically that very soon her artery would be open and that they had to insert this stuff to clot it. They called it a pseudo anurism (sp?). Then 2 nurses came and once again fought over who got to carry her. This time was definitely harder to hand her off. We were pretty confused, shocked, and I was anxious. We asked how long this would take and they told us between 1-4 hours. I went back up to her room and had a good cry. By the time I had pulled myself together the phone rang. It was the doctor saying he was done and that everything went exactly the way he wanted. We went back down to the surgical waiting room and went to see Amelie. This time when she woke up she was very smiley and full of beans. We waited for an hour this time in recovery and went back up to her room. She was so energetic she was kicking up a storm and making raspberry's like they were going out of style. My Dad looked at her and said "Sorry, didn't you just come out of surgery?" She actually seemed even better than before she went in (?). She had more visitors and was very happy to see everyone. She ate well and was looking really great. We woke up this morning and got some breakfast. Her nurse came and took her away to go for a visit with all the other nurses so we could eat. Then the doctors came in and said that she looked amazing and that we could go home. We were very happy to hear this news. Everyone was sad to see her go, but I can't tell you how great it is to be home. Anyway, that's our craaaaaazy story, but in the end Amelie is doing wonderfully and we don't have to go back to sick kids for 6 months. Look below for some pictures!
TTFN
i'm so happy everything went well!