Surgery is November 16th.
We had to have a chest xray before our appt with the surgeon. Olivia HATES these as we have to hold her down and hold her arms over her head - she very much dislikes her arms being messed with.
That over with, we were handed her entire xray history file to bring upstairs. That was cool because it contained all the xrays from her upper gi when they determined she had gut malrotation. So I was able to show Arnie the pics while we waited.
I once again recognized a million staff members while we’re waiting for Dr. Mello - including the resident who took care of Olivia when she first came out of her first surgery. She recognized us and came over to say hi.
Katie is Dr. Mello’s new Physician Assistant. Turns out she interviewed for the job the day Olivia had her first heart surgery. I love connections like that.
She ooh’ed and aah’ed over Miss Olivia (of course ;)). Listened to her lungs, heart, etc. Olivia weighed in at 11 lbs, 11 oz
We discussed the surgery with Katie and Dr. Mello:
Surgery takes about 4 hours. She’ll be the first case of the day and we’ll probably have to be at the hospital at 6:30AM.
The BT Shunt will be removed and then he’ll connect her SVC to her Pulmonary Artery (skin to skin).
Recover time is usually 7 - 10 days. She’ll be in the PICU for about 4 days before we’re sent up to the 8th floor.
Olivia will have 2 chest tubes (one more than last time). One chest tube will be just a drain. The other will have a pacer wire and another wire. While these tubes are in we won’t be able to hold her :(.
All lines will be removed before we can go upstairs.
They will wean her off the ventilator after a few days - give her a few days to adjust to the new blood flow.
Her oxygen levels will be in the 80’s after surgery.
She will have some swelling in her head and face for a few days and they’ll have her on lasix again to help her get rid of the extra fluid.
Dr. Mello mentioned we should increase her aspirin intake from 1/2 tablet to 5/8 tablet.
Now on to the bloodwork: What a freaking NIGHTMARE! Olivia hated the tourniquet and screamed the entire time. It was just terrible … definitely my worst experience in that hospital. The women were not very sympathetic to Olivia either. I will definitely be writing a letter to complain. They also needed to take a urine sample so they put a bag on her. That was just an experience I’d rather not have to go through again.