This is Hubby Matt with an update?
Laura reported to the hospital at 5:15a yesterday for her 8:30a surgery. The first update came at noon when she was successfully placed on bypass and the true work began. The next update was at around 3p and she was off of bypass and all was going well (time to close her up.) At around 4p we spoke with the surgeon in person and learned all had gone to plan! No unexpected twists. They were just closing the skin and we would be able to see her soon.
Around 5:30p we were ushered to the surgical ICU. Laura was awake and already requesting off the ventilator. By that point the vent settings were very low and she was doing the majority of the work. The pulmonologist had informed her that she needed to prove/show her she was ready to come off for another hour or so. Every time she would take a good large breath the vent would alarm. It was quite humorous to watch Laura as every time the pulmonologist would come in the room to watch the readout on the vent it was non-stop alarms, there was Laura doing everything she could to prove that she could come off the vent. The vent was removed at around 8p with no complications and was greeted with a huge smile from Laura.
While we were waiting for the vent to be removed Laura was very limited in her ability to communicate she tried some writing which was difficult (especially with all the pain meds and anesthetic still in her system.) However again her humor was still shining through, in talking with the nurse we learned that instead of a pig valve as we had expected , she received a valve from a cow, no sooner than I had made the comment that this would mean I could no longer use my pig jokes Laura mouthed ?Moo Moo?.
The night went well and this morning at around 9:30a she was moved from the bed into a chair. No sooner than this 10 min task was completed the x-ray techs showed up to perform a stomach x-ray which she needed to be lying down for. They were told they would have to come by later.
Based on her progress thus far she has been moved normal room out of the ICU this morning as well! Less than 24 hours in the ICU. The expectation is to possibly have her up walking later today
For those of you looking for more details at the high level they replaced her pulmonary valve with a 29 bovine valve (the largest one made) and they were able to repair the tricuspid valve with an angioplasty ring, and last but not least performed a right sided maze procedure. Her incision was closed via glue. Before moving from the ICU this morning they removed the arterial line from her neck, the arterial line from her arm, and her Foley. This leaves her with the two heart drains (talking they will pull those within the next 24hrs) a standard IV, o2 nasal canula, and EKG leads
Laura reported to the hospital at 5:15a yesterday for her 8:30a surgery. The first update came at noon when she was successfully placed on bypass and the true work began. The next update was at around 3p and she was off of bypass and all was going well (time to close her up.) At around 4p we spoke with the surgeon in person and learned all had gone to plan! No unexpected twists. They were just closing the skin and we would be able to see her soon.
Around 5:30p we were ushered to the surgical ICU. Laura was awake and already requesting off the ventilator. By that point the vent settings were very low and she was doing the majority of the work. The pulmonologist had informed her that she needed to prove/show her she was ready to come off for another hour or so. Every time she would take a good large breath the vent would alarm. It was quite humorous to watch Laura as every time the pulmonologist would come in the room to watch the readout on the vent it was non-stop alarms, there was Laura doing everything she could to prove that she could come off the vent. The vent was removed at around 8p with no complications and was greeted with a huge smile from Laura.
While we were waiting for the vent to be removed Laura was very limited in her ability to communicate she tried some writing which was difficult (especially with all the pain meds and anesthetic still in her system.) However again her humor was still shining through, in talking with the nurse we learned that instead of a pig valve as we had expected , she received a valve from a cow, no sooner than I had made the comment that this would mean I could no longer use my pig jokes Laura mouthed ?Moo Moo?.
The night went well and this morning at around 9:30a she was moved from the bed into a chair. No sooner than this 10 min task was completed the x-ray techs showed up to perform a stomach x-ray which she needed to be lying down for. They were told they would have to come by later.
Based on her progress thus far she has been moved normal room out of the ICU this morning as well! Less than 24 hours in the ICU. The expectation is to possibly have her up walking later today
For those of you looking for more details at the high level they replaced her pulmonary valve with a 29 bovine valve (the largest one made) and they were able to repair the tricuspid valve with an angioplasty ring, and last but not least performed a right sided maze procedure. Her incision was closed via glue. Before moving from the ICU this morning they removed the arterial line from her neck, the arterial line from her arm, and her Foley. This leaves her with the two heart drains (talking they will pull those within the next 24hrs) a standard IV, o2 nasal canula, and EKG leads
