Our Lil' Hero: Post Op Day 1

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Post Op Day 1

Today was post op day 1. When the surgeon came in he said Mason's numbers were still higher than he would like so there was no plan to even try to come off sedation. He started up a few different meds hoping that they would help and all day the numbers keep shooting up so they have to keep putting him farther under. They really go up when I touch him or talk to him so I have to refrain from that. It is kind of a helpless feeling not to be able to do anything but I will do whatever makes him in the best state to recover in. Also with how his numbers have been I am not going to be surprised if tomorrow the surgeon decides Mason needs to go back to the cath lab to have more collaterals coiled in his heart. They still have him on the cooling blanket. They are keeping his temperature at 35.5 degrees Celsius(95.9 Fahrenheit), it makes me want to wrap him up in a blanket. He had a few eventful moments today also. His ventilator stopped working TWICE! The first time the nurse wasn't in the room and all the sudden the ventilator stopped and I looked at Mason's chest and there was no breathing. It scared me. The nurse came in and started to bag him while respiratory messed with the ventilator. Everything was fine and then it happened again this evening. So they had to bag him again and send for a new ventilator. He cannot breath at all on his own yet so it put a little panic into me but all is well since. Overall they are pleased with him but are not in any sort of hurry to pull him out of it. If slow and steady is what it takes, we will be patient. We are used to Mason just fly right through recovery but this time it is very different because they want it to be slow so we have to just keep positive and know that time is important with this surgery.

Ryder had a good day today too. I still can't get over how AMAZING he was yesterday during surgery. He sat in a very boring waiting room for over 9 hours and didn't even complain. He is growing up and is such a good brother. Because of the long day yesterday he didn't really care to sit at the hospital so my mom brought him down for a few hours so they could visit him and then we all went back up to the Yawkey house to eat some dinner. We got to play Monopoly Jr with Ryder before we walked back to the hospital. Zac's parents sat with Mason so that made me feel a little better being gone knowing Mason wasn't alone. I am going to miss Ryder so much when he goes home soon, but he will enjoy being back at school with his friends.

Mason is still very critical and has a long road of recovery so keep the love, positivity, and prayers coming. They are not going unnoticed. <3

I have gone back and fourth on posting pictures of Mason with all his wires and tubes. I decided tonight that I am okay with posting them on here. Pictures like this get stolen too often by the wrong people and then they use them to get money from others. I don't want to be a target so I am going watermark any pictures like this to try to avoid that happening.

2 comments:

Unknown said...: Mollie, thank you for taking the time to update us on how things are going. :) Know our hearts and prayers will continue to be with you all. Mason is s fighter! He's definitely a little super hero. Hugs to all of you!; January 23, 2014 at 7:29 AM
Czarina said...: I am praying for your fighter! I will continue to check on him and pray for him and for you.

- Czarina (from the FB bivent group); January 23, 2014 at 6:12 PM

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A little about Mason

This is a journey through Hypoplasic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Mason was born on October 1, 2010 as what we thought was a healthy normal baby boy. At 3 weeks old we found out when he was life flighted to Primary Children's Medical Center that he was born with an Unbalanced AV Canal Defect that caused him to have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He also was diagnosed with 2 Large ASD's a VSD, a CoArch of the Aorta, and a small leaky Mitral Valve. He had his first open heart surgery, the Norwood, in the end of October 2010. After surgery his chest was left open and they surgically closed it a few days later after the swelling went down. He had his second open heart surgery, the Glenn, in January 2011. He did great with recovery and got discharged 1 week later. We had him home for 1 day then he was rushed back to the hospital where they found he had a sternal infection and had to open him back up and wash out all the infection and he had a picc line placed for 6 weeks for antibiotics. He had a couple of heart caths during that time, and echo every 3-6 months, and eye surgery.
In February 2013 we sent his records to Boston to explore different surgical options for him. We found out he was a candidate for a surgery called the Staged Left Ventricle Recruitment to the BiVent. With this surgery it would grow his left ventricle to normal size and then give him normal circulation to hopefully avoid him having to have a heart transplant. (if we didn't go this route we have been told with his anatomy he would need a transplant in his teens). With the help of friends, family, and strangers we went to Boston where he had the first of hopefully only 2 surgeries. He had his 3rd open heart surgery in June and right now his heart is growing and conditioning to be able to handle the load of the work that a normal heart does. He is due to have his 4th open heart surgery in the first of 2014.