Christine's Journal
2007
March 29, 2007 - It is now time for her Glenn. Surgery was changed again. It is now scheduled for 1:30 PM today. We got to the hospital at noon. They took her from us around 1:15 PM. We finally got a call at 2:45 PM saying they were ready to start. It took that long to get her set up. Then a little after 3 PM Dr. Gleason Han came in telling us things were going well. We didn't hear anything until 4:15 PM when Dr. Gleason Han came out to tell us that they were closing her up now. She said they didn't need to use heart lung machine. Then at 4:30 PM the surgeon came out to talk to us. He said everything went smoothly. He is a little concerned since they didn't use the machine that her risks for stroke could increase, but we will have to see.
March 30, 2007 - She had a good night. This morning though is another story. Her heart rate went down to 54, which is really low. They stopped one of her medications and that worked. It then starting going back up where it should be. Her blood pressure looked good through it all. Lisa had to leave early so she could get some sleep before the Timberwolves game tonight. She called at 3:30 PM and the nurse mentioned that she may have had a seizure and they put her on medication for that. Other than that she looks good for today.
March 31, 2007 - Lisa got to the hospital early today. Dr. Han said that she looked good today and no changes to be made. She will be starting on formula today. Lisa was able to hold her today, but it was tricky because she was moving all over the place and she had her chest tubes still in. The surgeon said they may come out today, but tomorrow for sure. She had an up and down day. She was uncomfortable and it's because on her xray she had a big bubble in it and she couldn't get it out yet. So they are giving her medication to get that going. Other than that she is doing great. Her eyes are swollen today which the surgeon told us would happen. She is taking her formula well. The neurologist stopped by to see her. She mentioned that it may not have been a seizure that she had. The nurse just put in her notes that she stiffened up so that doesn't mean it was a seizure but it will not hurt her to stay on the medication. She settled down in the early evening.
April 1, 2007 - Lisa stayed the night at the hospital last night. The nurse said she had a good night. She ate and even smiled for her. Her eyes look a lot better today, she can open them better. Her stats look good. She is waking up and falling back to sleep with little or no problem. Dr. Han said today she will be getting her ART line out of her arm, she will still have the one in her neck for now. She will be put on oral medication now. The surgeon came by and removed those chest tubes. She is getting closer to moving upstairs. All she has is the line in her neck and prongs with oxygen going into her really on her. Medication is really nothing like before. Other than that she looks good today and I think she feels better today.
April 2, 2007 - Today was a good day. Christine was awake and smiling today. The nurse gave me the good news today and that is we are moving up to the 3rd floor. As soon as she eats we are going up. When we got there she decided she didn't want the prongs in her nose anymore so she pulled one side off. The nurse then decided she looked good and really didn't need the nose prongs so she removed the other side. She didn't like that at all. Other than that she is looking and feeling good today.
April 3, 2007 - Today was another good day. Dr. Han said that tommorrow morning her line in her neck will be removed after she gets her blood drawn. Dr. Han also mentioned that if everything goes well she could go home by Thursday. She didn't want to sleep today hopefully she will sleep tonight. Other than that everything looks good.
April 4, 2007 - Today Dr. Han called the house to let us know that on her x-ray there is air in her lungs and they will have to put in one chest tube to get rid of it. So that means she will be moving back to the first floor. Lisa got there around 10:30 AM. When she got there she got the news that the surgeon said that it wasn't enough to have one put in just yet. He ordered another x-ray for later on today to see if she can release it on her own. Lisa had to leave cause she wasn't feeling well at all. Her mom is staying with Christine. Dr. Baker looked at the x-ray and said that nothing has changed. So as of tonight she won't have the chest tube put in. They will do another one in the morning and then they will decide. Hopefully she won't need it. Other than that she is having a good day. She is happy and smiling again today.
April 5, 2007 - Today, we had another good day. Her x-ray came back showing that the air was gone in her lungs, so they didn't have to put her chest tube back in. Lisa didn't go to see her because Lisa had a fever yesterday. Christine is still downstairs, because, unfortunately, there isn't a room available upstairs. So we are just hanging out right now. She still has the line in her neck, and we don't know when that will get removed.
April 6, 2007 - Today was a great day. She started out in the PICU where she stayed and we ended up on the 3rd floor. The surgeon wanted her to stay one more night and she could go home tomorrow. Everything looks good and said that Christine would get rid of that air on her own. (not needing the chest tube) He also said that it was a good thing that it was air and not water that would have been worse. When we got upstairs that nurse didn't like how red looking her neck looked from the neck line. She made a phone call to Dr. Han and came back and said that she has to get some blood out first and then after that she will take it out. The stitches were really close on her skin so that was tricky since she wanted to move her head. She got the stitches cut and pulled out and then she pulled her neck line out. Christine just screamed she didn't like that at all. The nurse said that it was starting to come out anyway. The neck area was really red for a while and then was looking so much better. I think Christine liked that it was out. Let's hope we can go home tomorrow.
April 7, 2007 - Well, we had a great night. Christine went to sleep around 9 PM and didn't wake up until 4 AM. She even stayed sleeping when the nurse came in to check her over at midnight. She was a tired baby. After her feeding she fell back to sleep. Her nurse today is the same one she had yesterday when we got up here. Her neck looks so good today. The nurse weighed her and she is 12 lbs 3 oz. That is good since she went down to 11 lbs. Everything looks good and the nurse is trying to get us out of here. The doctor didn't make it up to the floor until after noon. She said in order for her to go home her x-ray needs to look the same or improved. So, we took her down to get the x-ray done. To our surprise the bubble was gone and the x-ray looked perfect. The doctor made some orders and got the medications written up. I started packing up. Finally, it was time to get Christine loaded up. As we were leaving we had say good bye to a lot of the nurses. (they remember her from the last time she was in) We got home and the kids (and Gary) were so excited to see her. Let's hope she can stay home.
April 11, 2007 - She is still at home. We had an appointment with Dr. Han today. Everything looked good. Her weight is 12 lbs 7.6 oz, height is 25 1/2" and her oxygen level remains the same. She also had an x-ray done again. That x-ray came back the same as the last one from the hospital. No changes except for her medications. We had to stop some and start some new ones. Dr. Han also said that we will see her in two weeks and after that it would be three months when we would have to come back.
July 13, 2007 - She had an appointment with the cardiologist today. We had to see a different one today since her regular doctor was on maternity leave. We saw Joshua's doctor today. She weighs 14 lbs. 6.8 oz. and is 26" long. We ran into the surgeon on our way to the appointment and he just can't believe how good she looks. We didn't need anything done which was good.
July 17, 2007 - Happy 1st Birthday!!!! We had a party for her with just family. She was overwhelmed, there were so many presents and everyone was wanting to hold her. She even dipped her fingers in her cake. It was a great day. I just can't believe it has been a year already, time just flew. She is our little miracle baby and we thank God everyday that she is still with us. We sure treasure everyday.
October 18, 2007 - Today was another appointment with the cardiologist. We got to see Dr. Han again. She needed an ECHO done today and well it started out good and she was cooperating, but then they needed one other thing and she just wasn't going to let it happen. They got it good enough. Dr. Han noticed that there is a little leak going on, but it is so little that she can't even hear it, so for now nothing is being done. Since there is a mild leak she wanted another blood pressure taken and it came out good. Her weight today is 17 lbs. and 28" long.
