A rough few days

Well, Atticus has had a rough couple of days. He's really swollen again, and his belly is super bloated. He's always mad when he wakes up, and I think it's from the pain of the swelling. His heart rate has also been high, he's been pukey, and he's breathing fast. They increased his methadone (sub for morphine) b/c they thought he might be having withdrawals from the morphine. It seemed to help some. His heart rate went down by about 12 bpm, and his breathing is still a little fast, but better. They're not sure what's causing the swelling though. They're doing ultrasounds and x-rays basically each day. They see some fluid build up in his abdomen, but not a "pocket" that they could place the drain back in to get rid of it. So they're also putting him back on an IV Diaril (sp?) and Lasixs to hopefully help the swelling go down. Please continue to pray for Atticus; he still has a lot of healing to go. Also please pray for Sandy and Gideon. They miss their mommy (and I miss them!), and apparently Sandy was moping and crying around the house all day for me. As I've said before, we know that God has a plan for us. Just pray that we can all be together as a family soon! :)

Quick update

Quick update on Atticus. He's still doing fine. No more excitement for him after he extubated himself. They are slowly weaning down his ventilator. They were able to reduce the pressure support by 1 more today. Again, baby steps, but they're all in the right direction. Please keep prayin'!

Prayers for the Wilson Family

Please pray for the Wilson family. Their son, Josiah Nathaniel Wilson, passed away this afternoon. Josiah was born with HLHS, and an additional complication of an intact Atrial Septim. They are wonderful christian people, and Erin has always been an inspiration to me, as Josiah had been there for 8 months. They also have 2 young daughters at home. Please pray for this family as they grieve.  I cannot imagine the emotions they must all be going through.

So Atticus extubates himself....again!

Well, apparently Atticus decided to give his nurse a hard time this morning. Laura (one of his regular nurses-she's very good) noticed that he was mad/irritated, so she turned around to go his little medicine drawer and get him something to calm him down. Well, as she walked away, she noticed she suddenly heard him crying (which is unusual because the ventilator tube goes between the vocal chords, so normally he can't make any noise when he cries) and heard the alarm go off on his monitor because his oxygen saturation was dropping. He had extubated himself! Respiratory came in and got him calm, and gave him just the oxygen tubes under his nose, because he had been CPAPing for the last few days anyway. He did pretty well, he managed to keep his oxygen saturation numbers in the low 60s. Which, isn't too bad, since even on the ventilator his numbers have only been in the high 60s. Eventually though, he had to go back on the ventilator because he was just having to work too hard to breathe. But, Respiratory thinks it won't be too much longer until Atticus can come off the ventilator. *Hooray! Oh please! Oh Please! Oh Please! That would make my day, week, year!* Everyone please continue to pray, send healing thoughts, well wishes, etc! Atticus continues to make steps forward everyday.

One less tube

Atticus is still taking tiny baby steps forward. They removed the belly drain last night, but when they did about 100 cc of fluid came out too. So they're gonna do another ultrasound to make sure they can leave it out. Supposed to have another routine echocardiogram today too. Having trouble with his O2 sats, so he's still really high on the ventilator. Please keep praying for Atticus, as he still has a LOT of healing to do.

Post-Glenn Update

I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to post yesterday, or earlier today, but we got home pretty late last night, and there were some other results I was waiting on before I sent this out.

God has truly blessed us.  Atticus sailed through his surgery with flying colors.  Dr Hsia (pronounced Shaw) was able to perform the Glenn procedure, fix the fold in his aorta, and repair the bulge/small aneurism in one of the blood vessels leading off the aorta.  Everything went smoothly; except they had a little trouble getting his bleeding under control at the end of the surgery, which is still normal for Atticus (due to his low platelet count).  They were even able to go ahead and close his chest before leaving the OR!!  We also got the results back from the head ultrasound today, and God has protected Atticus once again, and there are no new brain bleeds!  The pressures in his heart following the surgery had gone from an earlier 15 to a great 4 or 5.  This is wonderful because they feel several of his other complications, such as the fluid build up in his abdomen, were a result from the high pressure in his heart and pulmonary arteries.  The pressure rose again today, but that was to be expected because his swelling will continue to rise for the first 48 hours.  They've already resumed his feedings and are starting to wean down his ventilator.  He is still VERY swollen, but that's also to be expected.

Thank you all for the many prayers that went up for Atticus and our family yesterday.   It continues to lift my spirit to see what wonderful people God has surrounded us with.  Atticus is truly working God's plan already as a living testament to the power of prayer, as the doctors and all extremely happy and surprised at how well he has been doing.  Please continue to keep us all and especially Atticus in your prayers, as he has a lot of healing to do now.  Please also continue to pray for all the doctors and nurses that care for Atticus, as they are all wonderful people.

Glenn Procedure Day.....

Well, it's the big day. Atticus is getting ready to have his Glenn Procedure done.  And Dr Hsia has to fix a few other problems too.  He has to repair the fold in the aorta, which happened as a result of the Norwood Procedure, and he has to fix the bulge in one of the minor blood vessels. We just got the first page and Atticus is stable and they're getting ready to begin the surgery. (Apparently every other Tuesday is "late start" day in the OR, so that's why they're just getting started. We should hopefully get another update in about an hour, so we'll post more after the surgery. Keep up the prayers.

Long update....

Atticus is doing so well since my last post.  He's had no more seizures since the last post.  His leg is almost completely healed now.  His skin wounds are all healing nicely, and the large one on his chest that once require the wound-vac is now even uncovered and almost completely healed.  Atticus has even been awake and alert, looking around the room and at his various toys.  He can track things with his eyes, and God has even given me the great blessing of seeing him smile.  In general, he's been on a constant upward swing in the road to recovery, and a testament everyday to the healing power of prayer and God's mercy.

However, the doctors have decided to go ahead with the next stage of his heart surgery (the Glenn Procedure).  The problem is that Atticus has kind of gotten stuck in his healing process.  He had another Cath procedure two weeks ago (which was completely complication free, thankfully!) and they had to balloon his Aorta, because there was a small narrowing, which was causing a bottleneck effect and causing him to have a lot of backflow of blood in his heart.  They were hoping that this would also correct the problem he's been having with a lot of fluid build-up in his abdomen (due to the increased pressure and backflow of the heart).  It slowed some of the fluid drainage, but it didn't solve the problem.  The doctors also took the pressure measurements that they would need for the Glenn Procedure during this Cath.  The surgeon, Dr Hsia, told me that Atticus is not an ideal candidate for this next procedure.  The pressures in his heart and his pulmonary arteries are higher than they would like when they do this surgery.  He's also younger than they normally perform this surgery, which is typically around 6 months old.  However, it's a Catch 22.  His pressures need to be lower for the surgery, but they don't think they'll get any lower unless he has this next surgery.  Also, if they didn't go ahead with the surgery, he would have a constant drainage tube coming out of his abdomen for 3 more months, which greatly increase the risk of complication due to some sort of infection.  Basically, Atticus' body is telling them that he needs the next surgery, but it's just going to be riskier.  He is scheduled for the next surgery on this upcoming Tuesday, January 12th.  It all seems very sudden, but I am hopeful that this will be the turning point for Atticus so that he can finally get strong enough to come home.  He will also have a CT-Angio tomorrow to look at his Aorta, and so that the surgeons can get a good game plan for his upcoming surgery.  It's nothing invasive; they just run some dye through his IV and take a CT Scan of his heart to get a good picture of it.

Please pray for Atticus, his surgeons, doctors, and nurses.  Pray that God gives him the strength he needs to persevere through the surgery, and that he'll continue to improve and be able to come home soon.  Please also pray for Robbie and myself that we can continue to be strong through these times.  We always trust that God has a plan for Atticus and that He will never leave his side.  God has already brought him through so much.  Thank you for the prayers, the calls, the emails, the visits, the love, and the support.  I thank God everyday for surrounding us with such wonderful people.