The transport team came to get Owen a little before 7 am. Michelle rode on a bed while holding him down to the OR. It was a somber ride. We passed a number of people who could not hide the emotions on their face of seeing a mother holding a newborn and being wheeled to down to the operation room. We were checked in and began to wait for the team to come get Owen. A little after 7:30, we walked with our little warrior in hand up to the operating room door. This was where we had to let him go. The tears flowed and we kissed our little guy goodbye. This was one of the toughest, most gut wrenching moments of our lives. We handed Owen to the surgical team that we had entrusted with our newborn baby's life.
One of the biggest impacts that Owen has made on our lives, even before he was born, was making Michelle and I closer than ever before. We have leaned on each other to get through these difficult times and we have both had our ups and downs where we have needed to pick each other up. This was definitely one of those moments. We made our way to the OR waiting room to check in. The waiting room was packed and it was incredible to see how many kids were undergoing procedures. We entertained ourselves until we got our first update on how Owen's procedure was going. The nurse updated us at 9:30 that Owen was doing very well and handled the anesthesia perfectly. They had placed most of the lines and tubes and were getting ready to make the incision in about 15 minutes.
We were then informed by the receptionist in the OR that we were going to be given access to a private waiting room due to the length of our procedure. This was quite a relief as the main waiting room was extremely crowded and noisy. As they put it, it was like getting bumped up to first class on an airplane.
The incision was made at 9:45 and the surgery was underway. The plan was to place Owen on the heart and lungs bypass machine, reattach his pulmonary veins, then correct the AV valve, take him off of the bypass machine, and then place the Pulmonary Artery band. This process should take 4-6 hours, but the time could vary.
Our family started showing up around this time to keep us company and show us support. Everyone was extremely supportive and helpful, including Michelle's sister Jen, who sat with us for hours all while being 2 days past her due date and very uncomfortable, and my Mom, who hobbled from knee surgery just two days prior. It is easy to see that Owen gets his fighting spirit from both sides of his family.
Another update came a little after 11:00 am. Owen continued to do great and was successfully on the bypass machine. The nurse said the team was very happy with how things had progressed. She let us know that she would be back with another update around 1:00 pm.
We passed the time until the update at 1:00. The nurse was back in our room and informed us that the vein repair was complete and had gone very well. This was great news. However, she told us that there is concern about the AV valve. The valve is underdeveloped and it was a tricky step to try and correct. There was uncertainty about how well the correction they were making would perform. This was not what we wanted to hear. Michelle and I did not handle this update very well. We were expecting to hear everything went well and he would quickly be on the road to recovery. The nurse let us know that Dr. Morales would talk to us post surgery to give us a better understanding of what was going on.
The surgery was complete a little after 2, which was quicker than we expected. They let us know that Owen did really well coming off the bypass machine and they were able to close him up. All his readings were coming in really well and he was stable. We were relieved by this news but the concern over the valve still weighed heavy on us.
Dr. Morales arrived around 3:30 and gave us a run down of the surgery. Owen was doing excellent and he was pleased with how things went. The vein repair was a little different than what they thought it was, but the repair went beautifully. The PA band was placed and that went well also. He reiterated the concern about the valve. They made a repair to the valve and it looks great at this time, but they are concerned whether it will maintain the correction. If it does not, they will have to go in again and try and repair it. Fortunately, it is not something that would cause immediate danger if it began to leak. It is something that has to be monitored closely to determine its performance. There is a chance that the valve could continue to form as he grows and help the correction or the correction could maintain and he would not need any update. It is really a wait and see type situation. Dr. Morales did say that he felt someone was in there looking out for him with how well the valve looks at this point, so we are hoping the prayers continue to come and help little Owen.
Owen was taken to the CICU and we had to wait for them to assemble everything in his room. There were some delays, not attributed to his health or stability, that prevented us from getting back to see him until around 7pm. We both felt excited to see him and we had an idea what he was going to look like. It was still shocking and brought us to tears. Seeing our little warrior with a huge scar on his chest, tubes everywhere, and looking lifeless, was extremely intense.
All the doctors and nurses told us that he was doing great, but it is so tough to see him like this. We want so badly to hold our little warrior and see his beautiful eyes and smile, but we have to cherish the two weeks that we had and the future moments to come. Please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery and the best outcome possible from this surgery. He will no doubt continue to fight on!
No comments:
Post a Comment