Surgery Underway

Just got an update from Esther and she said they are just getting underway pretty much. It took a while for them to get through the scar tissue and the actual "Fontan"part will start in about half an hour.  Originally we had heard about 4 hours for surgery but right now (3 hours in) we have 2 1/2 to 3 hours left.  And probably at least another hour after that until we can go see him. So we have a long way ahead of us but it sounds like everything has gone ok so far so that is good news!

The time goes by slowly but as long as Landon is doing ok then we're ok.

Not much to report

We've heard from the nurse twice who has come to update us but not much news really.  First update was that they had all of his lines in for anesthesia (which is good news because the last 2 surgeries that had trouble getting lines in - doesn't sound like that was much of an issue this time).  The 2nd thing we heard was that they were starting on opening him up which will take a while because he's got scar tissue from previous surgeries.  That's all we know so far.

We'll try to keep the prayer requests on the side of the page updated throughout today and the next few weeks so they are current.

The Waiting Begins

Everything went as scheduled this morning and despite being woken up at 5:25 to drink some clear liquids as quick as we could get him to since we had to cut him off at 5:30am, Landon was bright eyed and bushy tailed!

We actually had 30 minutes less waiting time than from the cath since we only had to be here an hour and a half before surgery time instead of 2 hours for cath which was kind of nice.  Less time for Landon to pick up on the strangeness of the situation and less time for us to get anxious.  Plus they took him back on time instead of an hour late like the other day which made things a little bit easier.  He has gotten pretty comfortable with the stethoscope and will even hold it in place over his heart while the doctor or nurse listens.  The blood pressure cuff, however, is his sworn enemy so that should make things interesting over the next few days.

We talked to the normal round of people and let Landon watch some movies.  They gave him versed both today and Monday (a sedative) to help him calm down and go to sleep easy and both days it made him pretty loopy which was kind of funny.  He thought our "disguises" were funny again as we dressed to go back to the OR with him.  He went to sleep fine and we kissed him and left him in the capable hands of the CVOR doctors and nurses.

Now, we sit, wait and pray.  We expect to get updates about every hour or so so we'll keep posting as we get those.  Thank you for your continued prayers!

Fun day at the hospital

Since we decided to stay in Denver in between cath and surgery even though Landon didn't have any appointments today, we thought it would be nice to have some "fun" time at the hospital.  We pulled Landon all over the hospital in the wagon, rode the elevator to all 4 floors in the atrium to see the fun things at each one, played with toys and read books at the hospital library and had snack in front of the ball machine.  Landon loved sitting in front of it and watching it and saying hi to all of the other kids who came up to see it.  

After naptime at the hotel we watched part of a few movies and had chick fil a for dinner, a nice treat for his last pre surgery meal!  Tomorrow will look very different but it was fun to let Landon have a day to play before surgery.  We hope he'll remember the hospital as a fun place too when all is said and done.

Landon and daddy at the ball machine

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Reading books in the library

Looking down at lobby from the 4th floor

Out of the hospital

Landon was a little bit cranky when we went back to see him at about 4. He was clearly still drugged and not able to make much sense except to whine and be upset. He was like that for a while and they have him some pain medication which calmed him down and let him sleep while Gary held him.

The next few hours he woke up really thirsty and then fell back asleep a few times. Even when they discharged us and things were going pretty well he was still pretty out of it. We are just staying at the hotel across the street so it was a quick trip in the car and he's been snacking on some fruit and crackers at the hotel.

He's getting back to himself which is nice. It's weird to see him so loopy and out of it!  All in all everything went well today and he is getting to be back to himself. He is coughing a little more than usual but that's normal with anesthesia. We'll just have to make sure it gets better tomorrow.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers today!

Cath Complete and Go-Ahead for surgery

We just talked to the doctor who did the catheterization and also the surgeon to give the consent for surgery.

The cath looked good, pressures are as they should be and no collateral "vessels" that they had to deal with.  Overall very good news - it went pretty quickly! According to the monitor in the waiting room he is back in his room but no one has come to get us yet so they may not be ready for us.  If he's sleeping we'll let him sleep for a while before we go back.

The results came back for the viral culture and no viruses came up which is good news for surgery.  So we got a chance to talk to the surgeon about what they will do on Wednesday and ask questions and we are moving forward as planned. So surgery is scheduled for 7:30am with a 6am check in to the hospital.  It will be an early morning for all of  us!

Will post another update after we get to see him.

Cath Day

Well, things are going as scheduled today.  Despite the fact that he can't seem to kick this runny nose and mild cough, the doctors don't feel that would be a hinderance today or a major risk for him.  Cath was scheduled for 12pm so he had to go all morning without any food and only clear liquids until 10am (nothing after that).  We were kind of dreading this because being 2 he can't understand why he can't eat.  He did suprisingly well with this though.  We kept him well supplied with apple juice this morning and he only asked to eat once because of all the distractions we supplied and unusual things going on.

He had to get an xray when we got to the hospital as part of pre-op stuff which he did not love. He was a little cranky here and there throughout the morning as he had to get blood pressure taken, nose swabbed (they want to get a viral culture before surgery on Wednesday), and probably 7-8 people wanting to listen to his heart and lungs but was overall friendly and agreeable.

He went back around 1pm (a little later than we expected) and we got to go with him at least until he was "brain asleep".  He was still moving some but it's just a reaction to the anesthesia and not any indicator he was still awake.  

I told Gary he must be really confused, being in this weird place in a weird bed and we let him watch as movies at he wanted today and Gary and I dressed up in the funny blue suits to go back with him.  Despite the odd circumstances though He did very well.  Depending on what they do during the cath (there could be "extra" vessels that have developed in his heart that they would essentially block up) it could take 45 minutes- 3 hours. Afterwards he'll have to lie flat for 2-4 hours also so we probably won't go back until he starts to wake up from anesthesia. The longer he sleeps during that mandatory lay flat time the better and we don't want to do anything to wake him up as long as he's sleeping peacfully.  

It's unlikely he'll be admitted after the Cath but it's possible.  Either way, we are planning to stay up here tonight and tomorrow night since surgery is early on Wednesday.  The plan is to move forward with surgery but we'll see what the results of the viral culture end up being and how he responds to the anesthesia today.  Then we'll see what the anesthesiologist and surgeon think.   They said today would be a good "trial run" to make sure he will tolerate surgery well. 

2:19pm We just got an update that things are going well so far and that he is doing good.  It sounds like they will be done soon but they still have to do an echocardiagram and draw pre-op labs.  These things will be much easier with him being asleep than him being awake.

We'll post more as we hear more later.  

Gary and I in our disguises". Landon thought they were funny.

Daddy and Landon in his special shirt

Playing with cars while waiting on xray