Hemi-Fontan Update #3 :-)
The nurse came out again at around 5:30pm and told us that Evan is off bypass and everything went great. They are waiting for some of the normal bleeding to stop so they can close his chest. Once he’s closed they will take him to the PCTU (pediatric cardio-thoracic unit) and we’ll get to see him about an hour after that. So, maybe at about 7:30pm. The nurse indicated that Dr. Hirsch is very happy with the outcome and she’ll be out to talk to us soon.
We took this image a couple days ago… you can see that his feet are fairly blue in comparison to Sarah’s hands. This is why we’re here. The oxygen level in his blood is getting lower and lower as his body grows out of his shunt. With this surgery, the shunt is being removed and the top half of his body will provide blood to the lungs. As his body grows, this operation will continue to grow with him.
Look at how much Evan has grown in the last 5 months! Click on the image to see it bigger. That’s Dr. Hirsch holding him.
While I was writing this post Dr. Hirsch came to talk to us and reiterate how well the surgery went. She did have problems getting into his chest because of the scar tissue that is there and she put a piece of GoreTex between his abdominal wall and chest cavity so that getting into the chest next time will not be such a problem. She used the word “scraping” which made me cringe. He may have some extra drainage because of all the work that it took for her to get in. Evan’s pacemaker was turned off and an external pacemaker was installed temporarily due to the cauterization tools used during surgery. The pacemaker will be interrogated tomorrow to make sure there was no impact. She was not happy with where the surgeon in Kalamazoo put the G-tube (in the middle of his chest just below his sternum), which made us laugh because he was complaining about where they put the pacemaker. Apparently if they know the child is going to need a g-tube they put the pacemaker on the right side so the tube can go on the left. They put Evan’s pacemaker on the left… Why? Just assume that these kids might need a g-tube and put the pacemaker on the right all the time. In any case, because of the placement of the g-tube and pacemaker there is very little ‘real estate’ for pacer wires, chest tubes, etc.
Here are some pictures of the day so far for you to enjoy.
