Surgery Whirlwind Recap

It is so hard to believe it's been almost two weeks since Samuel's surgery!  Partially because life is just busy, but mainly because he is doing so well.  If you were to see that boy walking down the street (or climbing on the couch, or running through the house, etc.) you would never guess that nice big "boo boo" is under his shirt.  Amazing.

Everything has seemed to go so quickly... now that it's over :)  Here's a run down...

We spent eight hours in pre-op the day before the surgery, and Samuel spent most of it being curious :)  

One upside, there always has to be one, is we got to know twin 10-year old boys and their parents pretty well... one of them was having surgery the next day, too, so we spent that eight hours pretty close together.  When everyone started to get a little delirious, Samuel kept us entertained with his I've-been-confined-too-long craziness :)

I don't have any photos from that night, but our good friends Sarah and Bo who live close to the hospital were kind enough to take all three of us in.  (Of course, Omi was also kind enough to stay an extra night so we didn't have to make the drive back and forth at insane hours!)  It was great fun, and an excellent distraction, to spend time with them!  Plus, it made our 5:30am arrival time at the hospital much more bearable with a 30-minute drive vs. 90+ minutes!

 Daddy sad, Samuel happy

 Daddy happy, Samuel sad

Alright folks, what's the deal... you seem a little emotional and somehow I ended up back in this blue gown.  What in the world?!

They took our boy from us around 6:30, surgery started around 7:30, and by 10am got the great news that he was off bypass... hooray!  The surgery lasted another hour and a half, and around noon we got to see our boy.  Even bigger hooray!

Happy daddy after successful surgery!

Crazy, heart surgery at two pounds, and now at 30... the good news is, we should be finished :)

Starting to wake up... Samuel was already filling in missing words as I whispered lines some of his favorite songs and books  :) And notice he is extubated! It happened around 2pm!  Unreal.  My bad lung boy extubated that quickly... never saw it coming.  Always hoped of course!  This was a huge sign of just how well he did during the surgery.

Still not quite awake, but requesting water and wanting to know we were there.

Oh my goodness!  That same afternoon, sitting up!  And making us laugh :)

Because Samuel was back in ICU for the night (a different one, specifically for Peds Cardio), we were back at the Ronald McDonald house.  It was surreal to walk through those doors.  I haven't really been back for three years, but because things were going so well, he was in great hands, and I knew I'd be sleeping in the hospital for the next few nights, we took the opportunity to sleep.  As I walked in the door, part of me flashed back... a bit of anxiety, but once that calmed down I remembered what a great job the folks there do of making you feel comfortable and providing as much as they can so all you have to worry about is your baby.  What an incredible mission!  (I still can't believe I lived there for nine weeks... feels like a lifetime ago.)

Oh my goodness... again!  This is on Friday - the DAY AFTER surgery!  It's hard to miss the expression of my super Samuel, but also note that he's not in ICU anymore!  He was transferred to the floor... we were amazed it happened so soon.

In addition to the heart, of course, we were also pretty concerned about Samuel's lungs.  We still just don't know how they're going to react... case in point being the common cold he got this past spring that sent him in a helicopter to the hospital, sheesh!  BUT, his lungs were rock stars!!!  In fact, the surgeon even said that while they didn't look normal (no surprise there), they functioned completely normal!  NORMAL!  Just amazing.

The next day... Saturday... two days post op... the pacing wires and chest tube came out.  Need I say OMG for the third time in three photos?!

Another cool thing happened when the chest tube came out, besides just getting it out... they did a chest xray to be sure excess gas didn't sneak in when they pulled the tube, and in the process of course got an xray of Samuel's lungs.  Ready for this?  They look amazing!  Now, they do still have lung disease, and don't have O2 sats that are normal yet... but they look like lungs I never thought I would see on this boy.  The cardiologist told me he even triple checked to be sure he was looking at the right xray :)

This might have been the most amazing of all :)  It's Sunday in this photo... the surgery was Thursday!  Yep, he's walking around like the crazy man he is - a little wobbly at first, but once he got his sea legs back there was no stopping him.

In fact, he walked himself down to, and around, the Atrium (best kids room ever)...

... and then right out the door!  On SUNDAY!

To give you an idea, the earliest we even thought was possible - if everything went perfect - was Monday.  Unbelievable.

Another perk of an early discharge was of course seeing George and Olivia, man did I miss them!  Omi, Uncle Jay, and Cousin Madison were absolutely wonderful to take over while we were gone - in fact, I'm not sure G and O missed us at all, ha!  I'm pretty sure they grew an inch in the five days we were gone, man, I don't want to miss a second!  They were great at welcoming Samuel home and asking all sorts of 3-year old questions... luckily when they asked how the doctors cut Samuel's chest, they were content with the answer "medical tools."  :)

The next day George and Olivia took him on a short walk to keep him moving... and he did :)

Since the surgery, Samuel's heart is considered normal :)  The patch looks great (it's made of gortex, isn't that crazy?!), they stitched a few other small holes when they were in there, the pressures have all stayed where they should... and follow up will be routine.  Routine... not a word we usually here... I don't mind it all :)