Post Op Day 1

Not too much to report today. Last night she came out of sedation more than they had wanted her to. I heard the nurse had to wrestle her back down because she was trying to roll over. They gave her a high dose of sedation meds and she has slept soundly since.
She has warm toes and fingers! Woot Woot! Hooray for warm fingers and toes! Zoey has never had warm fingers and toes.
She is more swollen today, but that is to be expected. She has also had some problems with her kidneys today, but right now she is doing well.
There were 4 goals for today:
1. Increase one of her meds (Mirinone) to 0.75 MCG per hour
2. Try to wean down on sedation meds
3. Schedule Lasiks (another med) 3 times a day
4. Wean down on the Nitric Oxide (a gas that she inhales as part of the breathing tube)
All goals have been successfully met! Yippee!
Here is a picture of our camping experience...ha ha! We didn't want to go home last night so we slept in our van out in the parking structure. It wasn't bad at all and we slept pretty good...minus being woken up by life flight twice. :)

After Surgery Pics

Two Ventricle Heart

No words can describe how I feel tonight. Zoey has a functioning two ventricle heart! Can you even believe that??? Such a miracle!!! She is doing awesome! The doctors and nurses keep telling me how great she looks...I realize this is from a medical, just after heart surgery stand point. Looking at her with that in mind I am sure she does look great...from a mother's stand point, she looks sad. As a matter of fact when I first saw her, I nearly passed out. Luckily I found a chair before I fell over. She will stay sedated tomorrow and possibly Friday as well.

She really has already made great progress though! When we first saw her she was on 100% oxygen and right now she 60% oxygen. They have had to tie her arms down because once her sedation meds would start wearing off at all, she would try grabbing the vent out of her mouth.

I don't have a way right now to post pics but I will tomorrow morning! Goodnight!

2:00 Update

Surgery is officially over. Zoey's chest is closed and they are now getting her stable in the ICU. She was on the bypass machine for 74 minutes and her heart was stopped for 32 minutes, which is awesome!!! We met with the surgeon and he is amazing! I am so grateful to him! Her saturation levels is in the 90's (before her saturation's were between 78-82 usually). Dr. Kazza isn't happy they are in the 90's and wants her at 100%, but he said that over time she should go up. Right now her lungs have more blood in them than they ever have had, so they are wet and once they get used to the blood flow her saturation should go up.

We should get to go see her at about 2:30. Can't promise another update for a while after that! I just want to see my baby!!!

12:00 Update

All the repairs are done! She is off the bypass machine! Her chest still isn't closed. We still won't see her for a while, but that is ok. It is such a huge releif all the major stuff is over. Adam, my mother-in-law, my dad, and myself went and donated blood at the blood drive they are doing here today. Zoey is getting blood today so we felt it appropriate to give back. They actually marked our blood for Zoey, incase she needs another transfusion in the next week. Thanks for the prayers! We have been so blessed!

Surgery Day

Yesturday we had to come to the hospital for pre-op. They did x-rays, EKG, and blood work. They had to poke her 3 times to get her blood. She was quite tramitized after that and cried and cried the rest of the time we were here--which we did the blood work first (not very good planning on my part). By the time I got her to her carseat, was so tired she literally fell asleep before I even turned on the van!

This morning we had to be here at 6:30 AM. She remembered here from yesturday and upon realizing where we were she cried and screamed. They gave her medicine to calm her down. We said our goodbyes at 8:00 AM. We won't see her again until about 2 PM. What am I going to do between now and then....go crazy! I know she is in good hands and I actually feel very peaceful. I have hardly even cried today....so far!

She loved coloring before they took her. It was so cute to watch her color when she was drugged. She was trying so hard to keep coloring even though it was hard to just keep her head up!


9:00 AM UPDATE: We just got our first update. Surgery has started.

Surgery and California Part 1

I have a lot to blog about, but I haven't had much time and I still don't now either! :) First of all, surgery will be this coming Wednesday, August 18th. They will be closing the holes in her heart and moving the wall that separates her right and left ventricle over. Currently, her aorta is connected to her right ventricle and it needs to be connected to her left. Instead of moving the aorta itself, they will move the wall that separates the ventricles over so that the aorta will then be connected to the left ventricle. This will be an open heart surgery, so she will be on a bypass machine.
We will be having a special fast for Zoey this coming Sunday. All that would like to participate are welcome. We really appreciate your support and prayers on her behalf.
We went to California the last week of July! We had a blast! I was a little nervous that Zoey wouldn't have much fun since she is so little, but she loved every second of it! We went with my family and we all had a blast!
On the bus to Disneyland!

Walking into Disneyland

Eating icecream on Main Street USA-one of my fav traditions!

Waiting to ride Dumbo

Riding Dumbo!

Eating at Rain Forest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Zoey loved it and seriously ate like this the entire time!


Mickey!


There was so much to see and do that she wouldn't fall asleep until she was so exhausted she couldn't handle it anymore

Zoey's first Minnie Ears! She wouldn't wear them unless she was getting plenty of attention and compliments on how cute she was! She is such a ham!

Zoey's favorite ride- It's a Small World


The Beach!