Post surgery- pictures

Alexis made it out of surgery and is now in recovery. Overall she did well in the surgery and they had no major complications. When she was first out of surgery her heart rhythm was irregular so she was on the pacemaker wires. She got her rhythm back and the surgeon said her heart is functioning well. She still has the pacemaker leads in her chest, just in case her rhythm goes too low. She currently has several IV lines, a breathing tube, an NG tube to make sure she doesn't throw up, several drain lines in her chest to take out the fluid around her heart and lungs, and many leads to monitor her heart rate, oxygen saturation levels (O2 sats), blood pressure, and some other things. The doctors have been very encouraged by her progress and they all think her numbers look really good. The surgeon was able to close her incision, which I didn't expect, and they only do that if they are pretty sure they won't need to get back in there for any reason, and that she won't have too much swelling. The physician that cared for her overnight told me he was surprised at how little pain meds she had needed up to that point. She has been a little finicky this morning, but nothing out of the ordinary. I heard one nurse say, "She's finally acting more like a Norwood. Up until now she hasn't been acting like a Norwood." Not that I want her to deviate much from the usual course, but I'm glad she did so well overnight. ***** I typed up a little blurb about what all her surgery would entail. I tried to make it user-friendly and in terms that are easy to understand. Sorry if it is hard to follow at all: The Norwood consists of three main modifications to the heart. First, they need to open the wall between the left atrium and right atrium (the top, receiving parts of the heart) so that the blood can mix. Unlike us, where the blood stays separate in the heart, it is important for her blood to mix as much as possible because only one side (the right side) of her heart is functional. After that, the doctor uses the pulmonary artery, opens it up and attaches it to the aorta. Her aorta (the tube that takes blood away from the left side of the heart and to the rest of her body) is very small, so using the pulmonary artery helps make it an adequate size. The pulmonary artery normally takes blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs, but since it is now being used to take blood to the body, the doctor has to put in a shunt. That is the third part, called the Sano Shunt. This shunt (tube) takes blood from the heart to the lungs to get oxygen. ***** This little girl has been through so much in her three days of life. Below are some pictures of before and after the surgery. The one after the surgery is hard to look at, I know, but just remember that all of the things attached to her are making her better a little bit at a time. Thank you for your continued prayers. Today could be touch and go, but so far we are seeing God's work and feeling his peace wash over us.