We get to visit!

So we just got into Luke's room. I'm including some pictures. He's pretty puffy. Dr. Burch says he's the largest hypoplast that he's ever operated on. They will extibate him early tomorrow morning. Until then he'll be kept sedated and drugged for pain.

They are done!

Dr. Burch just came and talked to us. He said Luke is done with surgery and in recovery. We will get to see him in about half an hour. He said there was a little occlusion of the left pulmonary artery but he fixed that. The surgery went without any major hiccups. He left the head of the Sano shunt on the right ventricle and pulmonary artery and sutured those closed rather than removing them and suturing the actual heart.

Luke is still intebated and will probably be so for 24 hours. He is on 50 percent oxygen. His sats are high 70s and low 80s. Luke's blood pressures are good. I don't know much more now. After we see him I'll write one more update for the day.

One hour left

I just went into the ICU and the nurses said they had just been told it will be one more hour. They also said that because he's so fat they had a harder time putting the lines in. That's why things are taking so long. I should know more in about two hours.

Here is a picture of Mark and Aunt Laura (Mark's sister) waiting. Laura just drove up from Logan to support us.

Waiting...

We were called about an hour ago and Luke is on the heart and lung by-pass machine. It took a long time to get him on (3 hours) and so I'm guessing there was lots of scar tissue. It is sad to think that my sons body is being kept cold, his lungs and heart are being bypassed by blood and only the brain is really getting any blood flow. It's an amazing machine invented around 1950 and Neil A. Maxwell was involved in it's creation. Scary but wonderful these modern techniques!

April3- cardiac cath and surgery

 Luke screaming and desaturating after the cardiac cath.

 Kissing Luke good-bye just before surgery.

Just Before the Cardiac Cath.

We checked Luke into day surgery at 6:00 this morning for a cardiac cathetization. The anesthesiologist intebated him and they did the procedure. They found a narrowing of the aorta and so they ballooned it open again. The procedure took about 3 hours. When he got to the ICUs floor he was crying, gagging, and his dry throat was so hoarse. Mark and I tried to comfort him but he just wanted to eat and they didn't want him to. So his oxygen saturations were very low. They were stable at 40 percent but once fell down to 25 percent. I was scared. A normal person has oxygensaturations close to 100 percent. So with it being so low I was thinking possible brain damage.

There were lots of physicians in and out of the room for about an hour. They gave a bolus of fluids and two doses of versed to calm him down. The sats did improve into the 60s and 70s when he was drugged up. But immediately fell as soon as they began to wear off. The surgeon dr. Burch was called. He looked at Luke, the results of his cardiac cath, and decided to do surgery. Within a half an hour Luke was whisked away.

Now we are in the waiting room. It's been about two hours and we haven't heard any news yet. I'll update as it comes. The picture is Luke after the cath but before surgery.

April 2 - pre-operative tests

This morning Mark and I left at 6:45 in the morning to drive to Salt Lake City. It was sad leaving the other 4 kids and they begged their dad to stay with them. Hopefully he'll go back in 3 days.

On the drive we stopped at the cheese factory in Burley to get the squeaky cheese Mark loves so much. Unfortunately they were out. Luke slept all but 2, 20 minute intervals. The first one was when I woke him up to eat (he couldn't eat after 9:39 in the morning because of the sedation). He was a super traveler!

We got to Primary Children's Hospital at 12:15 and went to register in. Then we went and had a chest x-ray, sedated echocardiogram (heart ultrasound), and cardiologist exam. This took only 6 hours to complete. Most of the time we had a crying Luke,desperately hungry and tired of bouncing parents. I think he got his Versed, Nubain, and other drug at 3:00. But he didn't get to eat again until 4:30 so he was very hungry.

We have to have Luke at the hospital by 6:00 a.m. Tomorrow for a cardiac catheterization. We're staying at my sister's house in Provo so we'll be leaving at about 4:45 a.m. To drive there. He will be admitted to the hospital for at least 6 hours and maybe over night. Then surgery on Wednesday.

March- Surgery Date!

I just got a call today that Luke will have surgery #2, the Glenn, on April 4th, 2012. That is only 3 weeks away! I am excited because I see him getting grayer skin tones and his energy level is not super high. He does not push up with his legs, sit up, or try to roll over. He just uses his eyes, neck, and hands to be involved in his world. So hopefully this surgery will give him some more energy.

They said I need to expect 7-10 days in-hospital recovery following the Glenn. This means I'll miss Easter with the family. But at least I can plan things so that my family is not just left to muddle through school and activities. I'll hopefully have lots of meals made in the freezer and lots of friends helping out with driving and entertainment. My sweet in-laws will watch the kids most of the time. But they are in their 70s and those 4 kids are rambunctious!

Here are some pictures:

Here are all the kids together.

Here are Amberly, Luke, and I.

 Luke LOVES his swing. He won't sleep more than an hour at a time without swinging. So we go through lots of batteries but we are so grateful for a swing. 

Here is Luke in all his chubby gloriousness.  We're so glad that he's been able to gain weight!

Here is my grandma holding Luke.  She is 92 years old.  I was a little afraid that she would pinch him too hard.  But thankfully she was very careful!