Well the surgery went amazing!! Its incredible that He doesnt even have a scar on him from it! We went down to Sick Kids on Wednesday for a pre-clinic, in which we speak with the surgeon, and they go over the procedure, side effects, and risk factors. The procedure would be done thru a vein in the groin, where a scope would go up to the heart with a plug to close the holes and they would put a camera down his throat to see what they were doing. Given that Lincoln has pulmonary hypertension, the risk factors were increased which scared Mike and I quite a bit. After speaking with them on Wed. they said there was a 70% chance that they would actually close the holes on Thursday, all depending on how much pressure was on his lungs, how big the holes were and how small the holes were. On Thursday we had to be at Sick Kids by 6:30 am, so that left little time for a full night sleep for us. When we got to Sick Kids, we registered and spoke with the anesthesiologist, who also informed us of the risk factors because he has pulmonary hypertension (which is a large amount of pressure on the lungs - due to oxygen flow from the heart). When the surgeon came in to take Lincoln away from us, she informed us about the chances that they would actually DO the surgery (via a catheter) ... because they usually dont do it via catheter on babies that are less than 22 lbs... which Lincoln is 18.5 lbs. After speaking with Dr. Lee (the cardiologist/surgeon), and her informing us on the chances they would do it, we asked if they would let us know what they decided, and she said no. The surgery would take approximately 1.5 hours - 4 hours... and she estimated it would be the full 4 hours because he is smaller than usual. When they took Lincoln away, we could only pray that everything would go according to God's plan. As we sat in our room, and literally watched the clock ticking, 3 hours went by and finally, the surgeon came in to let us know that EVERYTHING WENT AMAZING!!! He infact had 3 holes, and one of the holes measured to be 12mm in diameter - HUGE. They closed all 3 holes with one plug. Lincoln was in the recovery room, and we were able to see him! It was one of the most happiest moments in my life when I saw that he was OK!!! Thank you to everyone who had us in your prayers - God surely does great things!! We were in the recovery room for 3 hours where he was hooked up to machines that were monitoring every millisecond of beating his heart did. After the 3 hours in recovery (in which he was awake, but drowsy from the anesthetic, he had a 2 hour nap (in our room), and when he woke up - it was amazing how fast he had recovered. We were playing music for him and he was dancing, laughing, talking, and playing just as if nothing had happened! The next day, he had a few follow up appointments, which went well, and we were on our way HOME!! He remains on asprin for the next 6 months, just as a blood thinner, but as far as restrictions... he just cant jump in his jumparoo or straddle his toys for 5 days, which he seems to be fine about! We will have another follow up appointment in 6 weeks time, to see how the lungs are responding to the holes being closed. He is doing better eating already, and we have appointments in these coming weeks for speech therapy, occupational therapy, physio therapy, and feeding assessments - which is great! Lincoln started to put himself into a sitting position from laying down - which is great for him! (except he seems to mostly do it when he is in his crib - supposed to be falling asleep haha)
Thanks again for all of the support from family and friends! It sure makes a difference!
-Michelle
