Feeling Blessed

Christy and Steve are back with Sydney right now! We are feeling so blessed that Sydney has done so well to this point.

We did get to hear from the nurse practitioner who filled in some of the details. Sydney has gone into junctional rhythm during both of her last surgeries and, predictable little girl that she is, she did again this time. It means that her heart is not beating as efficiently as it would in normal sinus rhythm. She is getting paced right now, but that is almost certainly something that she will overcome in the next few days.

Sydney's blood pressures were a little lower during this surgery. Her body now has to adjust to pushing so much more blood through her lungs, so she is on medication to keep her blood pressure up. She should make this adjustment pretty quickly, hopefully by the end of the day or tomorrow. Junctional rhythm is just not efficient enough to keep her blood pressure high enough to handle the fluid, so she's getting a little assistance. Pray that she adjust to this new anatomy and that she can get off the blood pressure medicine and pacer fairly quickly!

The rest of the day should be pretty quiet as she tried to recover. She is awake and breathing on her own, but will be somewhat sedated to give her body a chance to recover and adjust. We're hoping that by tomorrow she might be able to sit up and do some coloring. We don't know when she'll be up and around yet; that is the goal because it helps her lungs to heal, but we'll take it one day at a time.

Sydney 1 hour post op

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Since I was writing that, I got to go in and see her. It is absolutely amazing to see how well she's doing. She is awake and talking, worrying about the dried blood on her hand, and watching TV. Before Dr. Peeler had even left her ICU room she had requested cartoons! I am amazed, astounded, literally speechless that this little girl was having her heart re-routed less than two hours ago and she is in there now holding her Mama's hand, talking about her milk, and smacking her lips when Christy applies her "lipstick" (aka chap stick). God is so good! Technology is amazing. We are so blessed to have the amazing team taking care of her and guiding her on this journey. It is truly awe inspiring.

Sydney, you are such a fighter and that spirit shines through. Your grace, light, and courage are a source of inspiration. We love you.

Thank you for all the prayers, please keep them coming! Specifically, Sydney is on a good amount of medication to stabilize her blood pressure and the faster she can come off that, the better she'll be.

Lots of love,

Josie (for Christy and Steve)