Surgery update #4

We met with Dr. Permut around 3:15 to discuss surgery details while Teag was being extubated and settled into the ICU. The surgery overall went ok but there were a few unexpected issues. The Dr. Was able to place an 18mm gortex conduit from her IVC to her pulmonary and fenestrate (sew a small hole) in her shunt to relieve some of the pressure. During the trans  esophageal echo they did during the surgery however they noticed that her tricuspid valve was leaking more than they initially thought. Dr. Permut decided to make an incision through her right atrium to access the valve and sew a few stitches in the leaflets to tighten it up. When they finished and rechecked her valve, the repair didn't seem to make it any better which is so frustrating. The initial surgery did not require them to stop her heart but working on her valve did. It also required them to clamp her pulmonary artery which led to another complication. Stopping the heart is always risky and harder on the body and in this case she went through that extra part of the surgery for nothing....

We got to see her around 4pm and she is in a large amount of pain. She has 3 chest tubes, a central line in her neck, an arterial line in her wrist, peripheral iv's, oxygen and her sternal incision. She is still too sleepy to give her much morphine so she has to suffer through a bit until she's fully awake. She is being SO tough, but I cannot imagine the pain she is feeling...

Dr. Permut came in to bring some unfortunate news a bit ago...During her surgery when they had to clamp her pulmonary/SVC area her shunt that is there got bent inward narrowing that connection. Since the stent is a wire, it will not open back up on its own. This means another surgery tomorrow in the cath lab to balloon open that narrowing. So heartbreaking and frustrating!!! It was all I could do not to cry, hearing our sweet girl has to go under again after what she went through today... We don't have a time yet but she will have to stop all liquids and any possible food for 8 hours again, poor girl. Tonight the plan is to keep her comfy, help her eat a few ice chips and sleep as much as possible! I'll update more about tomorrow's surgery but please keep praying. She's not out of the woods yet and were anxious to start her recovery after tomorrow's procedure.