S - Day

This morning had us up at 5am and checking in at 6am for Cora's surgery.  Despite the fact that she hadn't eaten since 10pm last night, she was her usual happy and smiley self.  Until the anethesiologist took her from me to carry her to surgery.  At that point she grasp her little hands tightly together and tried to curl herself in a ball, squeezed her eyes shut and started to cry.  It absolutely tore me apart.  It was amazingly difficult to walk away, the only comfort was knowing that she was in great hands.  Then it was to the fifth floor and the waiting room outside the PCTU/POD A area.

9:42 am- the floor nurse came out and told me that Cora was on bypass and Dr. Bove was preparing to open the heart for surgery.  I said a huge prayer.

10:30am - the floor nurse came and told me the surgery was done and that Dr. Bove would be out to talk with me.  She told me they were able to repair the damage without a mechanical valve.  I praised creator.

11:15 am - Dr Bove came and talked to me about the surgery.  He was able to repair the valve and even sutured it slightly different.  While he was repairing the valve he found a posterior hole and repaired this as well.  He did not see the hole in the initial surgery.  He was definitely able to tell where the sutures had let go.  He is very optimistic and said the prognosis looks really good.  I hugged the internationally renowned Dr. Bove.

12:45 pm - I finally got to see my little button.  She looked good and her hands and feet were once again warm to the touch and pink.  Instead of one chest tube, she has three this time.  It was explained to me that there is usually more bleeding with a second surgery because of all the scar tissue.  Cora was having a difficult time with her blood pressure.  She was given some blood and also hydrated with a bolus of liquid.  This seemed to help, but she was restless.  So they increased the morphine and it helped her to relax.  Although on the ventilator, it was nice to see Cora breathing at a slower rate, rather then her 60 - 70 panting breaths in a minute.  She looks so destressed even after such an invasive surgery.

The rest of the afternoon was spent peeking in on her and softly touching her hand and marveling at the miracle of our modern science.  Being that Cora has Down syndrome some of the medicines work different with her.  They had to get the restraints again because the little bugger was trying to grab her pacer wires, IV lines and various other things within reach of her little fingers.  The night nurse gave her a dose of a different sedative and Cora finally gave up and is resting peacefully.

So after a kiss goodnight and a promise to visit her in a few hours I left my little button in the very capable hands of the PTCU nurse with the promise to keep my cell phone right next to me and her promise to call me if there is the least little change.

Cora has done well for the first 12 hours after surgery.  As far as S-Days go, this has been a "sensational surgery" day.