O.R. Procedure Went Very Well

Surgeons took Bailey back at 7:30 this morning. She was really nervous, but did fine. About 2 hours later, we learned that they took her PA line out, her chest tubes out, the arterial line in her groin out, and changed her central line to the other shoulder. They even took the stitches out of her incision in her chest! Also, "while they had her back there", they cardioverted her and she now has a regular heart beat. They did an echo also, and the cardiologist said "her pressures look really good". (They steadily fell throughout the night and were dipping into the 50's before her procedure this morning.) It took Bailey about 3 hours to come out of her anesthesia, but when she did, she felt good. She was glad to hear she was cardioverted because the irregular heartbeat was making her nervous. She has a much easier time moving around now with less things attached to her - they even hung her head over the bed this afternoon and washed her hair. She'll hate me later for reporting this, but they took her catheter out and she sat successfully on a bed pan - yeah!! Hey, progress is progress and is to be celebrated! They're hoping to get her to the heart center on Monday and the surgeon has ordered her to "make laps around the heart center" once she's up there. Her temperature was up again later this morning, but not sure if it was just because of the heating pads they had piled under the blankets when she returned from the chilly operating room. She was very active this afternoon and ate a pretty decent lunch - not up to par yet, but definitely getting there. They've not been working too hard on getting her off the nitric oxide, but have begun that process again.

Surgeons say the biggest risk of VAD's is infection, so Bailey will still be in insolation even when we get to the heart center. But we're ready for the move and ready to hang out there for as long as we need to.

Today was definitely the most encouraging day we've had yet. To see her moving around so much and so comfortably is a joy truly beyond words. These last 2 weeks have been quite an "emotional storm". God has definitely been taking care of us - he even structures it so that Scott and I have our breakdowns on different days - when one of us is stressing, the other is strong enough to step in and take over, and vice versa. To all of you out there who have said a prayer for us in the past weeks, please consider each and every single one of you hugged - you are truly appreciated!!

Love to you all, Angie

(P.S. - Annette, we met Lola today!)