Tucker's Surgery Updates, Day 3

Update #16

Well....it is like 3am and they are doing a procedure at Tuck's bedside. His i.v. that is in his groin is clogged or something. They cant drawl any blood from it....so they have to thread another one through the vein and take this one out. This particular spot also has a line in it that monitors the arterial pressure. This is the i.v. that they drawl all his blood gasses from, so as to watch all the settings on his ventilator, to ensure he is properly oxygenated.

This is the same vein that they used to do the heart cath on Tuesday-it goes into the heart, the vein that is. I can vaguely remember this being done at one of Tucker's other surgeries as well. Although at that time we didn't have one in the groin and they put one in at bedside. Tucker has terrible veins in that you cannot see them and they seem to collapse and go bad. It is not uncommon during one of these visits that he gets new i.v's a lot. The first heart surgery they had done so many that they ran out of spots and had to put one in his head....UGH. It was a good, thick vein though and stayed until they took it out because it was time to take it out.

Update #15:

Dr Del nido came by. The issue we are having with Tuck is the pressure on the left side of his heart is running in the high 20-30's. With the left side of his heart not being used to all the blood flow this is normal, however it should be coming down. As long as they keep him comfortable, heavily sedated, his pressures stay in the 20's. The higher pressure causes fluid, which backs up into the lungs. Ideally we want that pressure in the teens. What they will do is continue to keep him very comfortable and attempt to get rid of the fluid from the surgery, via pee. As his fluids come down that pressure will also come down. They will attempt to wake him, however if the pressure in the left side goes back up, they will sedate him again and give him more time to recover. This will be the balance we will keep attempting. He also said on Monday or Tuesday he would re due an echo cardiogram to look at his heart. Make sure that left side is not oversize, that the valves are not leaking and that it is working correctly. Right now he sees no need as everything is in line...again as long as they keep him sedated, if he starts to wake it all goes haywire. The right side, which was doing all the work before the surgery, has pressures that are great...right where they need to be. Again, this is all things they have seen with this type of surgery, they assure me, so it is finding the right mix for Tuckman, getting fluid off his body, and letting him rest and adjust.

Update #14:

Rounds went pretty much the same. Today they will keep Tuck sedated however they are going to up morphine, taking away the versed drip which causes hypotension(low blood pressure). They also put some more diaretic on board to help the "pee" process. He is holding some fluid so he needs to pee it off. More out than in.....so today pray for PEE!!!

They think they will start waking him tomorrow, that may change though...it is day by day and ever so slow making sure Tucker is ready. I am sure all of you remember the saying "Tucker time"....we are all on Tucker time now. I so want to hold him, kiss him and here him say "mom" "mom" "mom" repeatedly until I answer.....and to see his smile. When the smile comes then we will know he is better......

The sun is finally shining here. My "bed" is a cutout with windows all around, it sets on the edge of Tuckmans room...so the sun will be nice to see today. I will post a little later as well....for now all is quiet.