The Surgery

 

The morning of the big day!

Della's surgery was on Tuesday, March 20th.  I know it took a while to get this post together but I've been so tired and busy just trying to keep up with everything that it sort of got put on the back burner.   


We went in Tuesday around noon and were quickly called back and ushered through pre-op.  It was really so fast that I didn't have time to get overly worried. She was such a trooper and while she was obviously overwhelmed she didn't panic and she let them do all the things the needed to do.  We were asked a million questions (though in all honesty it wasn't really a million different questions, just 10 questions asked 100,000 times), Della was changed into a gown, and was given "Happy Juice" to make her relax.  It was really kind of funny, like she was a bit drunk.  Then the anesthesiologist carried her away and we went to the PICU to wait. It's one of the hardest things to do, let someone carry away your baby knowing there's a chance, no matter how small, that you won't get them back.

  

Della just before they took her back to the OR.

  

The sign on her bed in pre-op, they moved it to her door in PICU after the surgery.

At around 1:30 they called to let us know they had made the incision.  Because the surgery wasn't anticipated to take that long they said they wouldn't be calling back until after they were done.  At around 2:30 the surgeon called to let us know that they were done and that everything had gone well.  He said that it was so tight that everything sprung apart when he cut the ligamentum arteriosum.  He is confident that she will have a great recovery with no long term effects from the defect.  He told us they'd bring her up to PICU in about 30 minutes where we'd get to see her and give her a kiss before she was again taken away to be situated in her room.  We were told this would take 30-45 minutes so we were rather concerned after an hour but we were soon let back to see her.  

  

 

Della 2 hours post-op.

I thought I'd be prepared to see her like that but I don't think you ever really can be.  She looked so tiny on that bed.  She looked so sick and weak.  She had so many tubes and things attached to her, it was heartbreaking.  They had told us prior to the surgery that 75% of the time the babies come out of the OR extubated, but Della had had so much stridor during the surgery that they decided to leave her intubated and the ventilator on.  It was so weird watching the rise and fall of her chest in sync with a machine though it wasn't long before they turned from the ventilator doing the work to letting her do it.  They left her that way overnight and it was a long night of sedation, suctioning the tubes, more sedation and more suctioning just to keep her oxygen levels where they should be.  

  

Della 24 hours post-op.

In the morning they decided to extubate her and to remove the NG tube.  After that was done they were able to let her wake up some and they were able to untie her from the bed.  She was pretty sleepy and spent most of the second day napping.  She had lots of visitors in the afternoon and even got so excited to see her papa that she stood up and managed to rip the IV line out of her foot.  Fortunately they weren't using it for anything so she didn't have to have a new one put in.  

She was allowed to eat the second day and we gave her a pop-sickle.  At first she refused to eat it but then Daddy told her it was candy and she happily ate it up.  She then moved on to some macaroni and cheese and some juice and Gatorade.  She was kept on Morphine all day so the pain didn't seem to bother her a lot, though we could definitely tell when it was starting to wear off.  

The second night was easier for her and I went home around 11 to get some sleep and Daddy stayed with her.  The night went well with her sleeping most of the time and she was in good spirits and had eaten lots of breakfast when I got back around 7 the next morning.  She was getting irritated by all the remaining tubes (she only had the Jugular line in her neck, the probes monitoring her heart and the pulse ox monitor on her toe at this point).  She was trying to get out of the bed and was really mad every time  her nurse came in to check her temperature and blood pressure.  Or worse yet, to adjust the pulse ox line on her toe.  Of all the things she had on  her that poked and hurt she hated that the most.  The tiny thing on her toe that shines a light.  Who would have guessed?  

  

Getting ready to go home and eating some Teddy Grahams.

They removed the jugular line on the second day and we were told we could take her home if we felt comfortable.  Since she seemed to be doing so well and we live only 10 minutes away we decided to let her sleep in her own bed.  So just 48 hours after surgery Miss Della was out of the hospital and on her way home.  The biggest challenge in having her home has been keeping her pesky brother Liam (2 1/2 years old) from knocking her down or running into her!  But it's also been challenging convincing her that she just had major surgery and probably shouldn't be running amok through the house and climbing everything she sees.  Of course we aren't having a ton of luck with either of these things but we are doing our best.  

Today she is 4 days post op and we went to the zoo to see the new herd of elephants!  She did great but was clearly worn out and fell asleep as soon as we got in the car.  

Here are some pictures and also a cute video from when Della was drugged up!

 

A funny picture Aunt Heidi took of Della while she was drugged up on pain killers.

 

This was the night before surgery.  Daddy did her breathing treatments and then couldn't let her go just yet.  They snuggled and slept for about an hour this way. 

 

This is the incision.  The scar will always be there to remind us how precious she is and how much of a fighter.