Aug
22
2011
Monday August 22, 4:30 PM
It took a little longer than expected to get Lilee ready for the PICU. She had some bleeding/oozing issues they needed to get stopped before they would let her out of the operating room. So they gave her some blood products got it under control and shipped her upstairs where we were waiting. Soon after they put her in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit they allowed us to go in. Here is what we saw:
Here is a view of the entire bed. The rectangular gray and green box on the bottom right of this picture is the pacemaker. If you look really close you can see two wires going from that pacemaker through the bottom of the incision on her chest. Those wires will eventually be pulled out once it is decided she no longer needs any pacing. As far as I know the device is turned off right now and is there just in case.
On the right in this picture is the respirator or breathing machine. This one is so much quieter than the last couple we have had. The only noises in the room this time are the medicine pumps every few seconds and the bubbling of the suction devices. The suction devices hang on the end of the bed and are filled with water. They use the water to regulate the amount of suction so there is a constant bubbling noise that comes from that.
Lastly - Check out the Oxygen Saturation levels!!! I think the last time she was 86% was when she was born. Her color looks so much better. Hopefully no more purple feet and blue nose. O2 saturation levels in the high 80's should keep her pink.
Everything is kind of surreal. As I look around and take pictures all I can really think about is how similar this is to the last surgery (the Bi-Directional Glenn). The only major difference is how much bigger Lilee is this time. You forget how fast they grow in such a relatively short period of time.
So what happens now? They are going to let her wake up and once she does that they will pull the respirator, and begin to medicate for pain. She did receive some spinal morphine during the surgery so that should last well into the night and possibly into the morning. Although she is still pretty out of it she is responding to noises and when we mess around with any of the drain tubes on her sides. So let the waiting game begin.