Second Open Heart Surgery Success

A breath of relief! Nolan's second surgery went well. They cleared off the fluid from around his heart and checked the heart's positioning. They said the fluid (basically blood clots) were actually older looking, so they do not think there's any new bleeding going on. He actually looks MUCH better. His o2 is at a steady 99 - 100%, BP looks great and his heart rate is in the upper 90s, which is perfect. The VAD seems to be filling up better...so let's PRAY we are on route to some positive progress!

I am pretty sure they will not remove his breathing tube today, but I know that they begin lowering the o2 so he starts working more on his own. HOPEULLY...for real...by tomorrow morning they get to pull this tube and we can start the weekend off on a good note! Once that tube is pulled that means we can start feedings, he will be awake and they will begin weaning him off of certain medications. BABY STEPS THOUGH...

I received the official letter from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh that Nolan is a candidate to receive a new heart as of October 14. Believe it or not, there's one more little guy down the hall that just received his letter, too. So, lots of prayers to all these families in the CICU. Nolan is listed as 1A, which means his is critical and on a high priority. This will be a whole other emotional path the day we are told his new heart is on the way. It is just crazy to think that it could be ANY day now...(it could also be MONTHS from now).

Aside from the surgery, one doctor told us that his lung X-ray looks good. So we think respiratory wise the nitric oxide is helping and extubation should go pretty smoothly. Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how excited we are to see our little man again.

I am exhausted - I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 am last night and was up a lot through my short sleep. We woke up at 6:30 am so we could see Nolan off to surgery. I just hope I can sleep tonight. Things here should be pretty low-key for the rest of the evening (we hope!), so I will be back to update everyone tomorrow after we round with the doctor's. Thank you all for your prayers!!

#nhos