We are very relieved to report that Helen’s surgery today was very successful and her prognosis is very good. She had the surgery at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital to fix her heart defect. She had a ventricular septal defect, which is a hole between the pumping chambers.
After meeting with the anesthesiologist, surgeon, and several of the nursing staff, we went into the OR with Helen at about 1:00 pm today. We were there when they put her to sleep and then we said goodbye to her. After about an hour of preparation, the surgery itself began around 2:00 pm.
At about 3:15 pm we got word that the surgical team had been able to successfully close the defect. A patch was not needed; the stitches alone were enough to close it. They also removed some excess “muscle bundles” that could later obstruct the valve. At that point Helen was taken off the heart-lung machine and an echocardiogram showed that the hole had been completely closed, with no leakage.
At about 5:00 pm we were allowed to visit Helen in the Pediatric ICU. She is laying on a bed and she looks so very tiny on it. She has a large bandage over the incision where her chest was opened to access her heart. She has many tubes and monitoring devices on her little body. Helen is currently sedated and is on a ventilator; they are telling us that the ventilator will probably be removed on Thursday morning.
It is hard for us to see Helen in this helpless state, but the nursing staff is very competent and kind to us, and very good at explaining what they are doing. Rachel has enjoyed “talking shop” (as a former ICU nurse), although there’s a lot of differences between pediatric and adult ICU care.
We appreciate all the prayers that have been spoken on our behalf. Thank you so much! Please continue to pray for a quick and event-free recovery for Helen. She will likely be in the ICU for a couple more days, and then spend another few days in a regular nursing unit until she is discharged, sometime around the middle of next week if all goes well.
