Long Day, Longer Night, Better Now

It may have only been 2 days since we checked into Children's for Mason's surgery, but it feels like it was a week ago. He was very nervous the night before and wanted me to read him the "Kate's Heart Operation" coloring book that the hospital sent. We dragged him out of bed about 6:00 Tuesday morning and he went in the operating room about 8:00. The surgery went well, but the surgeon said Mason's valve was more abnormal than he thought it would be. He did the repair and took him off of the bypass machine, but then realized that the valve was too tight. So they put him back on the machine and "revised" it with a different technique. The whole thing took about 5 hours. It was such a blessing to have our families here, and our friends who took time out of their week to spend a day in Dallas with us.

The worst part of the day was when Mason woke up with the breathing tube still in and freaked out. I was a nervous wreck until they got that out. Actually the very worst part of the day, and night, was the fact that Mason couldn't have anything to drink or eat for 4 hours after surgery - even though he was terribly thirsty and asked for a drink every 30 seconds. When he did finally get some sips of water and ice chips, he threw up. So we had to wait until morning to try again. Even this morning, when he was supposed to be able to drink and eat, we had to wait for the nurses to take out his wires and tubes before they would let him have anything. It was so sad to see his poor little, pitiful expression when he asked for the ten thousandth time if he could have a drink.

The good news is that he is now able to eat and drink without throwing up, and he has all of his lines and tubes out - except his main IV. He's in a regular room - out of the noisy ICU. We had a small issue with his chest tube "hole" - it was bleeding really badly for awhile. But the surgeon came right away and helped us get it under control. Everyone here is unbelievably kind and attentive. We feel very blessed! Thanks so much to everyone who has sent us prayers, and support - we appreciate it more than you'll ever know!!