A late afternoon update for everyone. We were really holding our breath (not Ellie) waiting for her to get the breathing tube out today. They tried at about 3:00 and she did fine but they just thought she was still too aggetated and fussy when they were messing with her. That's the way it goes - it's a judgement call at that moment and once it's made it's made. So they won't do it at night, babies don't play well at night with staff decreases. So it should be tomorrow morning.
She's doing just fine though, I think she just wanted another day of rest. With all she's been through, she can have whatever she wants.
In other news, the surgeon came by and thinks she looks great. Big plans for looking at her new numbers in a few days after she's breathing on her own.
Would you like to know some details of the surgery? If no, stop reading now. If yes, turn the page.
When they opened her chest they actually used a saw to sever the sternum and spread her chest open very wide. The right side of the heart was indeed very oversized. Her entire heart was the size of a small orange which is way too big for a 9 month old. When the repair was made, after just a few minutes her heart became the size of a plum thanks to blood moving correctly now. Some metal stiches were put in to get the bone back together.
A new dressing change on her incision and kicking her blankie off when she got hot.
