Daily Update

Update for Atticus. Still pretty uneventful. Practice breathing w/o the ventilator. Newest addition though is that he has a wound (from the surgery) that just isn't drying out, so it can't heal. So they added a sponge vacuum to help dry it out to prevent infection and to get this little man healed!! Please keep praying that he'll heal and be able to come home soon!

Spoke too soon...

Big news is that Atticus is officially...OFF THE VENTILATOR!!! (Best Balki impression)..."We are so happy, we do the dance of joy! Di, di, di, di, hey, hey ,hey! He was so awake and alert when I got to the hospital today! Thanks for all the prayers! Keep em coming that he gets to stay off the ventilator!

Well......sorry folks! Looks like Atticus likes doing things twice. Two open heart surgeries, two chest closings, and now looks like at least 2 times on the vent. Oh well...he got a good 8+ hrs off the vent today. His numbers went sour, so he'll have to wait a few more days and they'll try to take him off again. Keep up the prayers that next time he'll be able to stay off!! :)

A few less tubes

Atticus update for today. He's doing well. He got his chest drainage tubes removed today. He also now has no urine drainage tube, and has stopped one of his antibiotics! Yeah! He's also missing the sensor on his forehead, and they're starting to wean down his ventilator, and the Resp. doc said he might be able to be off that by the end of next week!! Keep up the prayers, they're working!!

Oh! Almost forgot! The doc also said that the latest cultures show that one of the infections is no longer present! (Hence the stopping of one of the anitbiotics!) He's making some good foward progress. Please continue to pray that he continues to make all these "step-downs" and that he will be able to come home soon!

Quick update

I just wanted to send the latest update on Atticus.  He's stable and doing well.  They were able to finally close his chest on Monday, and he was able to tolerate this closure much better than when they had tried to close him on Friday.  His numbers have remained stable, but he does have both a blood infection and an infection in his throat from the ventilator tubes.  They say that his white blood cell count continues to escalate as his platelet count continues to go down.  They just started him on a third antibiotic which they are hoping will do the trick to get rid of the infections.  As of today, they have also begun to wean him off his morphine drip and his dopamine drip (for his blood pressure).  He seems to be handling these changes well.  Please continue to pray for Atticus as he still has a long road to recovery.  Also, please pray for me, as I've had a chest cold for the past 2 days and can't go see him in the hospital until I'm well.  This has been very difficult for me.  Thankfully, there is a phone number I can call 24/7 to check in with his nurses to see how he's doing.  Also, please pray for Robbie and the other children, as there have been a number of problems at the house, and he's under a lot of stress.  We continue to have faith that the Lord has a plan for everything, even if we can't see what it is.  Pray for quick recoveries for everyone, and for strength to get through this difficult time.  Thank you all for the phone calls, cards, support, and continued prayers.

And the fun continues....

And the fun continues today. Robbie tried to turn on the heater at the house this morning, only to find it broken...but no worries, we paid someone to fix it. Now Atticus has a blood infection and one in his throat from the tubes, so he's on a second antibiotic for that. Hopefully the doctors will close him up later today (Mon) and we can start getting some of these tubes out of him. Continue to pray for us all!!

Atticus is offically closed up now!! *Cheers! Hooray* Let's pray it stays that way. I only got to sneak in a see him for a few minutes b/c they had another baby coming back to the PCICU from the OR, so they had to kick everyone out again. He was sleeping and doing well, but his lactic acid did go up a little bit. I'll update again later when I get to go back in.

No luck....

Sorry I didn't have a chance to update yesterday, but the computer room closes at 4PM. Please continue to pray for us, as yesterday/today are very stressful. The doctors did end up opening Atticus back up b/c he wasn't handling the closure very well. His stats improved almost immediately once they did. We just have to be patient and wait a few more days for his swelling to continue to go down, and they'll try again.

Also, we found out from my sis and mom that someone tried to kick in the back door at our house in Aiken, but thankfully the dead bolt held and no one got in. Also, Sandy and Gideon are very sick with a nasty cough and need to go to the doctor. Robbie is on his way home to Aiken now to deal with the police, insurance companies, and take the kids to the doctor before heading to work tonight.  Please pray that he travels safely, that we can have the strength to handle all the things that have been thrown our way recently, that we can find a way to move out of that neighborhood and somewhere that our children can be safe and actually play outside, and that we remain sane (lol). I know God has a plan for everything...I just wish He'd let me in on it sometimes! :)

Chest closing!!

They finished closing Atticus' chest. However, we need everyone to send some prayers and healing thoughts our way. His stats look good, however, his blood gas numbers are a little off-so they'll be checking them every hr. If they don't improve, they may have to open his chest back up and wait another day or so to try again.  Also, his platelets have been low and the initial blood culture shows signs of a blood infection. They redrew his blood just to make sure that it wasn't a contaminate from the tubes-full results in a few days. Please pray that he is able to remain closed and that the second set of cultures comes back negative for an infection. On the positive side...he is waking up more often, so we finally get to see his eyes!

Daily Update

I just wanted to update everyone on little Atticus.  He's stable and doing well here at MUSC.  The doctors and nurses have all been wonderful.  Atticus' vitals have continued to improve after the initial scare the day after his surgery.  They have managed to wean him off several of the meds that they used during the surgery, and they have even managed to wean him down on his ventilator.  They are hoping his swelling will be down enough to be able to close his chest tomorrow, Friday.  Once they get past this step, he will finally begin to be able to make real progress on healing and leaving the hospital.  He will still need to likely be here for about a month, but this will be the first of many important "step downs".

Robbie and I cannot thank everyone enough for all your love and support.  The prayers, visits, phone calls, emails, and generous gifts have been more than we could've ever asked for.  We are truely blessed to have such a wonderful support network in you all.  We thank God for each and every day that He lets us have with Atticus.  Please continue to pray that all goes well for little Atticus, as he still has a long road to recovery from just this surgery, not to mention the surgeries to come.  Please also continue to pray for us and the other children, as Robbie will have to return to Aiken on Saturday to go back to work, and I will remain here with Atticus until he is strong enough to return home.  Thank you all again for your love, support.

Daily Update

Atticus is doing great. His numbers are back up and he's remained stable. Robbie and I have tried to catch up on some sleep. I feel bad for not being there 24/7, but I (and everyone else LOL) have to keep reminding myself that I just gave birth about a week ago and I'm SUPPOSED to be taking it easy. Oh well. We're getting ready to head back up there in a bit, so we'll keep you guys updated as things progress.

Daily Update

Well, Atticus is having to go back into the OR right now. His oxygen saturation numbers have been dipping really low, so they think there might be a clot in the shunt that takes the blood to the lungs. PLEASE pray that this is all and that they can clean the clot out and it'll fix the problem. We'll keep everyone updated as we find out anything else.

Newest update is that Atticus is off of the heart-lung bypass machine and that they didn't find much of anything. Atticus is very stable and they hope to be back in the PCICU in about an hour. We're hoping this means that it was just a blood clot and that he managed to pass it, so hopefully he'll remain stable.

Latest update on Atticus. Dr Hsia said they couldn't find anything in the shunt, but that Atticus was stable and his numbers looked good. It could've been a clot that just passed before they got to it, but his shunt was clear and getting good blood flow to the lungs. Just keep up the prayers that he remains stable and no more scares.

The wisdom of a 4 year old

This story was too precious to me not to pass it along.  Also, feel free to pass along to your friends and family if you choose.  As many of you know, my husband and I just had our 3rd child on October 5th, 2009.  His name is Robert Gary Atticus Goodahl, as we call him Baby Atticus.  He was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which requires multiple surgeries to correct.  Tomorrow is the big day for Atticus to have the first of the surgeries at 1 week old.  This is by far the riskiest of the surgeries.  My husband and I have been at the hospital pretty late and came home to my Dad's house to try to get some rest before we have to get up and be at the hospital very early in the morning. 

My husband snuck into the bedroom, where my 4 year old daughter Sandy was already sleeping in the bed.  He was in the bathroom, and she woke up due to the light coming out from the door.  Robbie (my husband) walked out of the bathroom, and she softly called out to him asking if we had been to see baby Atticus.  He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed and the following exchange ensued:

Daddy: "Yes we went to see baby Atticus and he say he loves you and misses you and can't wait to see you.  You know that baby Atticus might not be able to come home.  He might die.  God might decide that Atticus needs to come home with Him."

Sandy: "Yeah.  I know.  It makes me sad sometimes."

Daddy: "That's alright.  It's ok to be sad."

Sandy:  "It makes me a little mad too."

Daddy:  "It's ok to be mad too, just not at anyone in particular.  It's nobody's fault.  Some things just happen.  And you can't be mad at God either because if God decides to take Baby Atticus home with Him, we can't be mad about that because that means that he gets to go to Heaven and be with Jesus.  And what could be better than that?"

Sandy:  "I know.  You know, Daddy, do you know what happens when you die? 

Daddy:  "What's that Sandy?"

Sandy:  "When you die, and you go to heaven and you meet Jesus, that's when you REALLY become alive."


As Robbie came out and told me this story, I realized that the old saying was true,..."Out of the mouth of babes..."  It's amazing to see the truth revealed through the simplicity of a child's explanation.  Please continue to pray for Atticus, that all goes well, and that we as parents can be as strong as our children.

Welcome Robert-Gary Atticus Goodahl!

Atticus was born today!  He weighed 8lbs 15ozs and was 21.5 inches long!  He was immediately whisked away by the doctors to the next room to be evaluated.  It would be a little over an hour later before I would get to see him again.  The pediatric nurses wheeled Atticus in.  Sandy (4 yrs old), Gideon (2 years old), and Jamal (3 years old-my nephew) were all in the room when they came in.  I was glad they all got to see him.  It was only for a few minutes though, because the heater in his little isolation unit was shorting out, so they had to rush him up to the NNICU.  It would be the next afternoon before I got to see him again.