The House of Many Blessings

Today was Camdyn's first post-op follow-up visit at the hospital.  She knew a "poke" would be coming, that the sutures would be removed, and the steri strips taken off.  She was hesitant, but in generally good spirits.  Our first stop was at the lab for some bloodwork so they could check her BUN (blood urea nitrogen) levels to make sure her kidneys are functioning well on the Lasix she's taking.  After some waiting, then a few short whimpers, the poke was done, with no real crying.

HALLELUJAH!  

Then we were off to imaging for her chest X-rays (she walked around like she owned the place!).  A bit more waiting and a couple quick pictures (plus 3 rolls of princess and puppy stickers) later, we were able to see a perfect lung AND diaphragm.  

HALLELUJAH times two!!

During her appointment, she also had an EKG (it showed sinus rhythm!!!  Can I get another HALLELUJAH!?!?).  Her sats (oxygen saturation level) were at 99!  (Any normal person sats at 100, but before her Fontan, her sats were really good at 86).  Once the PA came in, she told us everything looked beautiful.  From the BUN level to the X-ray to the EKG, it looked beautiful.

Music to our ears.

She removed the three stitches that had been put in once the drainage tubes were removed (remember the tubes that were as big around as my pinkie finger?), and then each of the steri strips covering her 6-ish-inch incision site.  Dr. Petrossian has done it again...the incision looks beautiful.  Neat, tidy, and healing well.  So many joys with today's appointment.

Our usual "world-exploration"

I do realize that I never provided a final "hospital update" before our discharge (chalk it up to the excitement of going home!).  She had been in a solid sinus rhythm for a day and a half!  We discussed her future care with the PA that was following up with us before discharge.  He said it was still possible that she could need a pacemaker in the future, but only time would tell.  At some point in the near future, she will probably wear a Holter Monitor to record her heart over a 24-hour or more period for an accurate idea of what it does.  The only thing that could potentially be medically-attributed to her rhythm issues would be that one of her chest tubes was putting a bit of pressure on her heart, and once they were all removed, it took some time for her heart to remember what it needed to do.  I'll go with that.

When we got to the hospital, it felt like we had never left...it'd only been 3 1/2 days since discharge.  But while we were waiting in between offices, I realized that on this exact day, three weeks ago, my heart was semi-permanently in my throat.  My lungs were forgetting how to breathe.  We had spent 6 hours going through all the pre-op procedures to get her ready for the OR in the morning.  It seems like an eternity ago already, in some ways, but then, just like it was yesterday.  We are SO GLAD to be on this side of her Fontan, and incredibly blessed that she's doing so well.

We'll continue weekly appointments for the rest of the month just like today, barring any outstanding issues.  She will remain on the low-fat diet and fluid restriction for the foreseeable future.  And we will continue spending quiet time at home together (along with moments of "Camdyn, honey, settle down, please.  You're getting too wild and crazy...take it easy, turbo!).

We've seen so many blessings throughout this whole process...more than we ever could have anticipated.  Our sweet pea has been blessed by those around us exponentially (which then, of course, blesses us!).  And the blessings haven't just come from friends and family, but they've also come from friends and family OF our friends and family, as well as new cyber-friends!  The encouraging power of a kind, uplifting word seems so simple, but it can make a huge impact, and that's exactly what it's done.   We've been privileged to connect (online) with more people who have been in our shoes in some way.  The blessings have poured on us, showered on us, and drowned us in complete gratitude for the people that God has put in our lives...in one way or another.  Thank you, friends.  You've blessed us tremendously throughout this whole process.  And while the surgery is done and recovery is underway, it isn't the end of the road.  We aren't out of the woods yet (I don't think we'll really ever be).  We don't know what the future will hold for us as a family, or for our little girl and her heart.  But we are so proud of our little CHD Warrior.

And we'll take it one step at a time.