Evan after surgery

Dr. Hirsch came to talk to us at about 1:45pm and said that it went as expected. There was a little bleeding that they had to take care of in the OR but nothing out of the ordinary and nothing to cause concern, it just took some time. During the surgery she completed all of the things as planned and went ahead and inserted the cardiac IV line under the skin and into the heart. She told us that Evan would be wheeled up to the PCTU at around 2:30 and by 3:30 we should be able to see him. The unit was not ready for us at 3:30 and we had to wait until about 4:15pm. Our time with Evan was cut short (we got about 30 minutes with him) as a patient in the space next to Evan was being brought in and they do not allow people in the room during these times. We were told to come back in an hour. Since then we have spent some more time with him, talked to his doctor’s and nurses, and gotten a slightly better understanding of what is going on.

In general Evan is doing well and the doctor’s and nurses are watching him very closely as his body responds to the surgery. A couple things that they are keeping a close eye on and working proactively to remedy are 1) his eyes are dilated and non-responsive, we are told that this is a typical reaction to atropine usage during surgery (atropine is used to help the nodes of the heart fire) and should wear off in a day or so. It can also be a sign of something more serious so they will perform an ultrasound on his brain to make sure that everything is ok. 2) His belly and chest cavity are filling with fluids due to the surgery, this is a normal reaction but the excess fluids need to be drained one way or another. Excess fluids cause undue stress on the heart and lungs. Typically, this is done through medications like lasix where the fluids will be processed by the kidney and excreted as urine. This also will take several days to remedy. He’s on many medications and has many tubes and wires all over him. He’s obviously on medication for pain, he’s feeling nothing. He’s also on medication for blood pressure, swelling, fluid retention, and vasal dilation (expanding and stretching of veins/arteries). As the days progress the medications and assistance from machines will be turned down as Evan gains the ability to do them on his own. Right now he is heavily sedated, he does not respond to our touch, or move on his own, he’s completely and utterly out of it. Tonight they will do no weaning from the meds or equipment and just give his body time to adjust.

CAUTION:
I am going to describe the scene in much more detail (and pictures) on a separate page. Some people may consider these graphic and be bothered by them. If you want to see the pictures and read the detail you can go to this webpage.