Back in the Hospital

We are back in the hospital with Ada. At her follow up checkup for her heart surgery they found that she had fluid around her heart. So they decided to take her to the cath lab to tap the fluid off. When they did this the color of the fluid looked like milk. That is not good. She is leaking lymphatic fluid around her heart. It is called chylothorax. One of her lymphatic vessels was nicked during the surgery, or so they think. The drain is still in place and we are manually pulling the fluid off every two hours. It is finally starting to slow up. We checked an echo this morning to see how things are looking. If things slow down more then they will clamp the drain and recheck another echo to make sure no more fluid is accumulating. So an overnight stay is turning out to be a weekend stay. (I hope not longer!) If things don't slow up then the only other option is to go back to surgery. We are trying to be optimistic. The doctors and nurses here are wonderful and provide great care. For that I am greatful. I am just missing my other children. But I know that they are in great hands! Thanks to grandparents, family, and friends!!

Peri-cardial Effusion

Ada went for her post-op check up today. They did her chest x-ray and her heart is larger today then it was on discharge. That is not good. She has a moderate amount of fluid around her heart. They put her on some prednisone to try to help. If the fluid doesn't come off then she will have to have a drain placed to pull off the fluid. Which means another hospital stay. I hope that the prednisone works. Unfortunately I put some of the medicine in her bottle and she would not take it. AARGH! So we get to go back to Primary's next week to see if the steroid is working. The good news is she is over 12 pounds, so she is growing slow but sure.

Discharged Home!

Yeah we are finally home! Ada's abdominal xray looked good again today. So they said she could come home. She is still having diarrhea, but if it persists we will follow up with her pediatrician. She looks so good. When we got her in the house she was relieved she started smiling and talking. I think she missed being at home. We will go for a follow up visit to the surgeon's clinic on the 23rd of July. We are so glad to have her home.

One More Day (hopefully)

So Ada's blood work and abdominal xray all came back normal. The doctors want to watch her another day to make sure that nothing's wrong. She is completely off of oxygen and is only taking tylenol for pain. She is doing so well. Hopefully she won't have anymore bloody stools. She is so dang cute!

Can You Do This?

Hey Grandpa Woodruff, could you do this after your open heart surgery? Tonight has been another rough night. Today she had blood in her stool, not a lot at first, but her last diaper had bright red blood in it. So it is 10:30 at night and we drew more blood for labs and went down for an x-ray of her tummy. What next? Other than that she is doing so much better. She feels better I can tell. Today she was rolling all over her crib. She's amazing. I hope that we can figure this all out so that we can get her home!

A New Day

Andy stayed with Ada last night. He said that she had a great night. If it weren't for all the hospital interruptions she would have slept through the night. The nurse practitioner pulled out her pacer wires. These are wires that sit right on the heart so in case that the heart is not beating properly they can send an electrical current to help the heart beat appropriately. She does not need them anymore. Her chest x-ray looked better today, but there is still some fluid around her right lung. So they are going to continue with the iv lasix today. She is going to have an echocardiogram done. This is an ultrasound of the heart. It takes pictures of the heart to make sure that it is beating well and can see the vsd repair to make sure the surgical site looks well. It also shows the direction of blood flow to make sure that its going in the right direction. She is more comfortable and does not seem to be in much pain. She is eating well also. I think that we have turned a corner and that she is on the up and up. I cannot believe how fast she has recovered. We want to thank all of you who have prayed in our behalf. Thanks to family who have helped with our other children and neighbors who have mowed our lawn and those who have lent a listening ear and given us support. We could not have done this without you. And of course we need to thank our Heavenly Father who has blessed us in so many ways. When I look back and think wow how did I do that, I know that the Lord helped pull us through. THANKS!!! MUCHAS GRACIAS!! SPASEEBO! (Andy says that is how you say thank you in Russian)