Leaps and Bounds

Owen is improving by leaps and bounds... he is such a little angel. Dr. Pearl had his chest closed in 40 minutes and I was happy to see him closed. They should have him completely weaned off the Nitric Oxide by 3am and then they will finish the wean from the ventilator. The plan is to exubate him tomorrow morning... that means I get to hold my baby boy again.

Owen got a pretty ticked off this afternoon. They turned off his fentanyl drip and morphine (pain killers) and he started to wake up a bit. The poor buddy couldn't open up his eyes because they are so swollen. This along with the fact that he has a tube going down his throat, catheder and anal probe, tubes coming out of his chest and he can't even have something as soothing as his binkie... he was MAD! So he got a little dose of versed and he drifted off into dreamland.

Here are some pics of him pre op....
Owen and our favorite surgeon... Dr. Pearl.
Owen Post Op... check out ALL his equipment!
Here's my PUFFY boy. He's pretty swollen, but we'll get him to pee it off in no time!
Here are Owen's Beads of Courage. They started this program for the cardiac patients a few months back. Each bead has it's own meaning and they have to be earned. The nurse brought him a bumpy glass bead today to represent his "bump in the road'... then a glass and wire one to represent the wires that were put in his chest today. This is a great way for kids to look back on their life and realize how truely courageous they are. Keep the prayers coming. We're still on edge hoping and praying that this surgery will help his right ventricle function. We still don't know if it did the trick yet.

Kamryn's Night to Shine

Kamryn has been such an amazing trooper through everything with her brother. She is ALWAYS optimistic about the situation. She understands that mommy or daddy has to be with brother and she has been more than willing to share our time. What a strong girl she has been to endure all the stress and worry that an 8 year old shouldn't ever have to deal with.

Her 2nd grade music program was on Wednesday night and it was very sweet. I love watching all the kids stand up tall and proud in the bleachers. She had a speaking part and she did great! Here are some pics from her program... it was her night to shine!

Kamryn and her favorite teacher, Mrs. Cruz!

We LOVE you boo boo!

Great Night

What a difference 12 hours makes! Owen had a great night and is pulling through. Yesterday was as scary as they come. We heard around 2 that he was off ecmo and that he would be in the PICU in 30 min. Then, over an hour later, the nurse came in and said things weren't so hot, his O2 sats were in the low 60's and Dr. Pearl was going to leave the chest open so he can get back in quick. Then her quote was "put a token in, your about to go on a rollercoaster ride"... what does that mean??? After another painstaking hour of waiting, they brought us back to see Owen. He looked as scary as we anticipated. They said he was stable, but just 30 min earlier he was not okay. Dr. Pearl (surgeon) said "Owen is okay, but I am worried." He had to spend more time on the tricuspid valve repair than he would have liked and the heart was still so fragile from the Norwood so he had to repair some tearing. I was trying to be optimistc by saying we'll take this one day at a time... to which Dr. Stock (cardiologist) replies "let's just take this hour by hour". Needless to say, we were a bit scared, but still had a peaceful feeling about things.

They assured us it was okay to leave for a while because Kamryn had her 2nd grade music program and would have been devestated had we missed it. It was a nice distraction from the day and Kamryn did a fantastic job! I'll have some pictures posted later. :)

I rushed back to the hospital to sleep with Owen. The Dr.'s came in this morning and are amazed at how well he is recovering. He is almost off the nitric oxide and Dr. Pearl is in closing up his chest and sternum right now. They are slowly lowering his vent settings and weaning off some of the meds. We're hoping for a speedy recovery but are cautiously optimistic because we still don't know if this repair will improve his heart function. He still needs all the prayers he can get!

I'm going to go back to my little puffkin baby. It is common to have upper extremity swelling after the Glenn because his blood flow needs to balance out and gravitate to the lungs. He's still beautiful even with a puffy head and marshmellow hands.