Glenn Surgery - 2/17

Well today was Alyson's big day! It is always so amazing to me the peace that I feel for each of her surgeries. The time flies by so quickly too when she is in the operating room. I am so appreciative to the surgeons, cardiologists, and staff that has helped Alyson so far because without them she may not be here with us right now. Below is the timeline of events that happened with her surgery but here are a few pics first pre-op.

Look how cute she is in her hospital gown and booties!!!

I asked the anesthesiologist to take our picture before I handed her off. That was a mistake because as soon as I handed him the camera I started to cry hence my red face!

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

7:30am - Gave Alyson to the anesthesiologist for them to start the prep work before the initial surgery began.

8:45 - Got report that the surgery has started.

10:00 - The official Glenn correction hasn't began yet. The surgeon is still getting through the scar tissue and cleaning it up. She is not on the heart/lung machine yet but is still doing really well.

11:00 - Alyson has been on the heart/lung machine now for about an hour. An echocardiogram is being done now to see how her heart is functioning after the Glenn correction.

11:25 - Off the heart/lung machine now. The echocardiogram looks fine and the surgeon is now putting the drainage tubes and wires in place. They will be able to close her up.

12:15 - Alyson is now officially out of surgery and on her way to the PICU. The surgeon came to talk to us and said that her oxygen saturations are in the 80's post-op and that her surgery went very well. She did have a few arrhythmias as he was clearing away the scar tissue but once he was done she didn't have any more. The pressures within her pulmonary artery were on the higher side than they would have liked. He thinks it is because there was a high pressure coming from her BT shunt and should be fine now since they hooked the superior vena cava to the pulmonary artery which has low pressure. Because of the pressures and the different direction of blood flow she will have headaches for a few days until she get used to it. If the pressure doesn't drop or gets higher by the time she needs her Fontan surgery they will not be able to do it and come up with other means to help the situation. He oversewed her pulmonary valve again and there is no leakage at all going across it anymore. There was slight blood flow going back across the tricuspid valve like in the past but he didn't seem like it was worth opening up her heart to fix it as it didn't seem like it was causing her any issues. He also said that the likelihood of her needing a pacemaker after this surgery are small but chances increase to 15% after the Fontan.

*During this time of events someone would periodically call for the 'parents of Olivia'. I stood up almost every single time until I would remember that Olivia isn't here!!! :o)