Home at last

It has been 2 weeks since James had his surgery and he is doing great. We brought him home on monday night just in time to celebrate his big brothers second birthday. Tomorrow James has an appointment to make sure he is doing good after surgery, so we will be going back in to Dallas again. He is happy to be home and he bringing more joy in our home. We have another step out of the way and the future is looking brighter. We are so happy that we decided to have James surgeries at Children's Medical Center. Dr Forbess has done a great job, all the doctors, nurses, therapists, and technicians has been amazing. Thank you all so much.

One week in recovery

It has been one week since James surgery and he is doing well. We hope that we will be out of here this weekend. He was on oxygen until yesterday and he had his last chest tube removed on Monday. After they removed the second chest tube he became more like himself and started smiling and staying awake more. He is graduating from safe at home today, which is the program we have been in from his homecoming until after the Glen surgery. They have been on an 24 hour call if we needed them, they also check in with us once a week to see his weight and saturations. We had a binder where we logged his weight, his saturation, and his feeds every day. We do not have to do this anymore and that is a big relief. So think about James at 1pm. He is doing his first graduation of some sort then.

Feeling better

We are two days after his surgery and James is getting better, he is looking more like himself now. He is still in some pain and getting quite a bit of medicine. The doctors have said that with the new anatomy of his heart there will be a completely new pressure in his head. It will take a few days to get used to so his head is probably hurting a lot. His chest and the tubes are probably not very comfortable either. He is looking good though and he is eating his regular dose of formula again. So hopefully we are back to being happy little James again in just a few days.

Moving up

We are now on the 8th floor at Children's Medical Center. James was moved into a new room while recovering from his surgery. He did not need to stay in the cardiac intensive care unit any longer. He is doing really well and we were all surprised when they said we were moving up. His breathing tube was removed last night, he still has two drainage tubes from his chest. He is receiving oxygen to keep his levels high until he is more awake. He is still on some pain medicine and is staying asleep most of the time. He is a real fighter and we are ready to have him at home soon. Thank you Dr. Forbess and the amazing cardiac team at Children's.

All done

James surgery is done, we got to see him rolling by from the operating room. They said that he did really well and we will be able to go see him soon. We spoke with Dr. Forbess and was pleased with the results. The breathing tube will be removed tonight and he has two drainage tubes coming from his chest. Can't wait to see him.

Surgery has started

James was taken back for surgery at 9:30 am and we received an update at 10:22 that the incision has been made. All we can do now is wait for updates and hope that everything will go as planned. The surgery will take 4-5 hours and we will be updated every hour. The hospital had 2 new babies born yesterday, so our case was moved up. We had to be here at 6:30 this morning. Keep us in your thoughts.

Time is here

We have reached the time for James next surgery. He is having his Glenn procedure tomorrow. He is Dr. Forbess' second case of the day so our time is set for 12pm tomorrow. James had his pre op today and everything looked good. They checked his oxygen level, his blood pressure, temperature, height, weight, they took blood samples, urine sample, and he had an x-ray. We are all set for tomorrow, the only thing that will stop us is if a more serious case must come before us. but we hope that it won't happen. They will connect the superior vena cava with the lung arteries. The surgery will take approximately 4 hours and they said that recovery might only be 5-7 days in the hospital. I will keep everybody updated on how everything is going tomorrow. Keep us in your thoughts.

Click on the links below for a better explanation.

Glenn procedure

superior vena cava