Surprised again! Home Soon.

Hanging with Daddy Today - No tubes!

We continue to be amazed with how well Vivien is doing. They have just told us that she is doing so well that they want to discharge us and send her home tomorrow!! At first both Todd and I felt a little bit uncomfortable with this, wondering if it was really ok, but she is completely off oxygen and she is on just a little pain of medication. She has some swelling (which you can probably see in the pictures - Miss Chunky Monkey) but it is just edema - water weight and should come off in the next few weeks. The nurse reminded us that in some ways, it's actually safer to be at home right now when it comes to germs. There is a lot of sickness  cropping up right now and a hospital is of course one of the worst places to be. Since she isn't needing any machines and we can give her her meds, home is really a great place to be. They have done x-rays, EKG's and Echocardiograms and she just looks great from a heart standpoint. She is breathing on her own and her oxygen saturations are good as well. So here we go!

Tuesday afternoon she was only on Tylenol and had a bit of a bad night Tuesday so they gave her some more oxycodone which helped settle her. As of today though, she has only been on Tylenol since 9:00am and is doing great. She had a nice little nap and hasn't been fussy. They are sending us home with a little more oxycodone but we will only use it if we need to and she hasn't required any morphine.

The only downside is that we won't be able to watch the Superbowl at the hospital. (We don't have a TV). Such a bummer huh? As you can see we have our priorities straight. (Don't worry - believe me, we'll make sure we get to watch it.)  Go Hawks!

More Fun Stories: The day before her surgery Vivien gave me what I would consider, her first responsive smile. She has smiled before but never one that I know was in response to mine. Todd said that he didn't think she did, because she'd told him that she would save her first smile for him, but I know better....

Todd saw the surgeon this morning and thanked him again for all his wonderful work. The surgeon responded, "Vivien makes everyone look good!"

One of the nurses asked if we sing "Jesus Loves Me" to Vivien. Todd told her that we did. She said that when she was holding Vivien, she started humming it to her, and she immediately settled down. Pretty cute!

First time holding her after Surgery Tuesday

Viv and Daddy Today!

Here are Todd's medical journal notes from Monday and Tuesday if you are interested in hearing a little more technical side of what is going on with Miss Viv.

1/26
Today, Dr. Mohammed Nuri repaired Viv's large VSD with a gortex patch. Post-op there showed no signs of residual VSD (huge praise!). During a recent echocardiogram, it was also found that the pulmonary valve leaflets were partially fused together. During the procedure, he performed a commissurotomy, improving the flow through the pulmonary valve. The fact that they were fused was like an automatic "ring" which limited flow to the lungs, preventing excess flow to the lungs. Sometimes, they will put a ring to limit the flow through the valve, but because of the way her leaflets were fused, this was already done! Amazing to see God at work! Dr. Nuri also removed some excess muscle tissue approaching the pulmonary valve.
Viv was extubated about 10pm tonight and continued with morphine an tylenol for pain. She was up a couple times during the night, but was easily consoled.
1/27
Vivien continues to impress the staff here. We got a phone call today from Dr. German, saying he received a phone call from a Dr. here at Children's asking if it was confirmed that Vivien had T-18. He was so impressed with her recovery that he doubted her diagnosis! Her arterial line, central IV and pacing wires were removed this morning. She remains on canula with .5 lpm. Without it, at first, she would drop to the high 80's. Tonight without it, she would drop to 95%. They said this is due to some fluid in her lungs from being on bypass. The lasix should help with this over the next couple days.  We were moved down to the floor this evening - another great sign of her progress!

We also wanted to ask for prayer for a friend of Vivien's who has T-18.  Noah is an adorable litle man one month older than Vivien.  He and his family live in Spanaway and we have been following each other on Facebook but haven't met.  Lo and behold, he and Vivien were both scheduled for the same week for open heart surgery here at Children's.  We were hoping to meet soon but we will be leaving and they will be coming tomorrow.  His surgery was supposed to be today but has been rescheduled for tomorrow.  We'd love for your prayers for him as well.  You can follow him here at Noah Nicholas's Journey.

Once again, thank you for your continued prayers. Praise God with us. We can't believe how kind He has been to us in His "yes" answers to our requests. Thank you for prayers for a smooth transition home, and also for wisdom as we help her recover well in the weeks ahead. We will keep you posted!