Today we met with the nurse practitioner for the surgeon who will be doing Zane's surgery. Zane was doing well today and in good news his oxygen saturation was 100%. It kind of makes me question equipment some where and makes me remember that oxygen saturation is a very finicky measurement, but it's great that he is doing so well today. It's hard to not get excited that he is "doing better" when we know he won't do better until after he has surgery.
The NP walked us through what will happened the day before surgery, the day of surgery, and during the post-op period. I'll bare you the details but it is going to be a very difficult time. The day before involves a lot of tests; an other echo/ekg, chest x-ray, blood draws to do pre-op blood work, and meetings with the anesthesiologist and the surgeon. She talked us through what will happen during the surgery as well. The surgery itself will take 4-5 hours. During this time we will be given updates from nurses in the OR. Post-op he will spend 2-3 days in the cardiac ICU, with the first couple days intubated and on a ventilator in order to let his little heart and lungs rest. As a nurse this is possibly more disturbing to me than the thought of cutting his heart open. I have never seen a heart surgery, but I have seen kids intubated and on a ventilators. It looks terrible and even though I know he is on it to let his heart rest I can't help but think about the kids I have seen who were on this for much more serious issues. After the ICU he will go to the heart floor where he will be weened of the stronger pain meds, start eating again, finish is IV antibiotics, and get ready to go home.
It was a lot of information to take in and we still really have no idea as to when the surgery will actually be. He is still gaining weight and looks good. The surgeon has yet to weigh in on the situation but we do have an appointment with him next Thursday. I wish the cardiologist would never had said they might need to move up the surgery to the end of September. It was devastating news at the time but over the past week we had adjusted our mind set and had almost gotten prepared for that. Now we are back to looking at probably October some time, if for no other reason than the cardiac surgeon is the only one at Children's doing heart surgery right now so it is really hard to get on his schedule. I still really want him to have it before cold/flu season at the hospital which starts some time in November. We want whatever is best for Zane but there is defiantly a since of just wanting it all to be over with so we can stop looking at him and dreading what lies ahead.
Zane is worn out from the big day and has been sleeping peacefully in his swing for quite a while. It was great to get to spend the day with him and see his smiling face. I missed him so much yesterday!
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