Surgery in Summary

Yesterday was a capital “L” long day! Riverlyn got called for pre op just after 2pm and we said, “Goodbye for now,” around 2:30pm.

We got our first update about two hours later that they’d made the first incision and we getting ready to put her on bypass. They let us know it could take up to two hours but she was on in about 45 mins.

An hour and a half later they were still working but hoping to wrap up soon. Then around 7:30 they let us know she was off bypass.

Around 8pm we got the update from her surgeon, Dr. Emani. Surgery went well. There was some thickened muscle and tissue pushing the valve and contributing to the obstruction so he took care of that. Once he shaped things up a bit the melody valve fell into place and did not have to be replaced while still resolving the main obstruction issue. He also patched the hole in her heart (VSD).

We didn’t get to see her until 10pm. She had a fever but they were able to bring it down by midnight. She had a mostly quiet night with minimal chest tube output so that’s good. This morning she heard me and roused enough to mouth “mama,” which breaks my heart because she had to be dosed again to relax her.

Today we will look to extubate and talk about big picture and next steps.

We tangibly felt the prayers and support of everyone yesterday.

Mathew and I spent time all over the hospital and even had some wildlife encounters. One fella will henceforth be known as “Couch Mouse.” We wrote haiku, stayed nourished, and prayed through it all.

Today we celebrate with praise and thanksgiving for all she’s endured 🤍