Our Lil' Hero: Post Op Day 3

Friday, January 24, 2014

Post Op Day 3

Third days a charm?

Today started out kinda rough. His numbers were all really high, he still was needing the cooling blanket, and it looked as if it would be another day of just waiting. That is until the nurse, nurse practitioner, and the attending physician all talked. We were given a super team today. They started 3 new meds, gave Mason a blood transfusion, and watched everything super close. The result was magic! His numbers all came down, they took him off the cooling blanket and he kept his fever down, after seeing his temperature was staying normal, HE CAME OFF PERALYSIS! They did start him on more sedation but my baby can move! His nurse tells him before she does anything always and she was getting ready to lay the head of his bed down and she told him and he nodded his head yes! So I stood up and talked to him and he nodded his head again! My heart melted a little. He didn't open his eyes but it was such a great moment for my heart. I needed that today! He also got a feeding tube today to put a little in his belly to activate the healthy flora in his belly. He is getting some pediasure at a very slow rate(2tsp in an 4 hour time period, or close to) but little progress is worth celebrating! I came to the patient family housing to stay with Ryder and I just called Zac and they now took his catheter out and are letting him pee into a diaper now because they want to limit infection risks. I am so glad that they day that I thought was going to be rough turned out to be the best one so far. There is still alot of recovery to do but today there was finally some progress.

Third day of post op

I finally have a pink baby! His oxygen always was between 77 and 82 and his levels are now at 100%, pink is a good color on him!

4 comments:

Unknown said...: Oh Molly..our hearts are full after reading this. We wait all day to read these posts in hope of great news and today finally the gates broke and we are all sobbing. What a beautiful pink baby. Prayers, love, and hope continuing from the Parkin clan. We love u guys dearly. Stay strong. We are all praying daily and can't wait to see him smile.; January 24, 2014 at 10:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Ditto Brandi, we are so happy for your family. Mason is a strong boy and he gets it from his amazing parents! Lots of love from Texas.; January 24, 2014 at 10:18 PM
Hilary and Eric said...: So thrilled he is doing so well! Go SuperMason go Mama! Slow and steady wins the greatest prize of all. Love to you all <3; January 25, 2014 at 7:53 AM
Anonymous said...: prayers still coming your way; January 25, 2014 at 11:48 AM

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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.