The nurses almost panicked...

On Wednesday of last week, I took Ryan to the peds office to get her physial. Everything checked out just fine and she has actually grown a half an inch in a month. WOO-HOO!!! She is now 34.5 inches tall!! Almost to that 3 feet mark. The doctor said Ryan is growing nicely and she was cleared for her surgery on Friday. As I said before, we were not concerned about the ear tubes going on, we were worried about her having trouble with the gas again that would be used to sedate her.

at the peds office for physical

We got to the hospital at 10:15 on Friday morning and Ryan was already nervous. All she has to do is see the hospital in her view and the whining begins. Once we got upstairs to same day surgery, child life came by and gave Ryan some toys to play with, and also gave her a baby doll. Ryan refused to put her gown on so we got an extra one to put on her baby....it didn't help. She still wanted nothing to do with it. We also had an extra mask from the gas machine in the room and I kept putting it up to my face to make her realize there was nothing to be afraid of. That too, didn't help. The nurses asked us several questions just to make sure they had all of Ryan's medical history. I told the nurses and the doc about her having trouble coming out of the sedation with gas when she had her cardiac cath done last year. They appreciated the warning!!! Although Ryan's surgery wasn't scheduled until 11:45, they were able to get her back about a half hour early....YAY!!

the nurses were blowing bubbles to try to make her happy...this actually worked

We decided after a lot of consideration that we would go back with Ryan while she was put to sleep. I have been warned not do this in the past, but I thought it would probably be more comfortable for her. I really think she remembered having her balloon done because as soon as the OR doors opened, and she saw the medical team, the meltdown began. They closed the doors to make her feel better and she wasn't able to see them anymore. We were in a VERY small room where she was put to sleep. I held her in my lap while they held the mask on her face....not fun. I felt so bad because she just stared at me the whole time. The nurses warned me about how her breathing would change once she was asleep.....but OH LORD...it was SO SCARY!!! She honestly sounded like she was struggling to breathe. I knew she was ok, but it sounded pretty bad.

asleep on the bed, ready for surgery

We walked back to the waiting room, and it really was only about 15 minutes that went by until we got called back into a meeting room. Dr. Myer said surgery was done, and that they were waking Ryan up and we could go back to the PACU (post anesthesia care unit) in about 5 minutes. Well, we found it pretty odd that 30 minutes went by and the EPIC sreen in the waiting area, said that Ryan was still in the OR. We finally got called into PACU and asked what took so long. The nurse told me that if I hadn't warned her about Ryan having trouble with gas, they would have PANICKED. It took them 30 minutes to wake her up, after she was only under for 15 minutes?? The nurse seemed concerned, but once she was awake, she was acting pretty good. She wanted to eat and drink and walk. She got down and walked with me holding her hand and was doing really well. Everyone was very impressed at how well she was doing after it took so long to wake up. We went over the discharge instructions and we got to leave about an hour after she woke up. THANK GOD, because she was getting CRANKY!!! The affects of the gas were not bad the rest of the day....it all went pretty smoothly. So, the tubes are in, she is now done with her ear drops that she needed, and we are good to go. Dr. Myer did have to suck a pretty decent amount of infected fluid out of both ears first, but at least it's all out now. He said he is surprised with how bad her ears were that she was able to hear anything. She is scheduled to go back to see him on February 22nd for a post-op follow up.

back to normal once again!!

On to some Q&A:

I have received some emails with some questions....I will not say who they are from because if they wanted everyone to know, they probably would have posted them on the comment section of the blog instead of sending a private email.

1. Since you live in KY, has Ryan ever been taken to St. Jude Children's Hospital?

The answer to this is NO. Memphis, TN is not exactly right around the corner. We live 10 miles south of Cincinnati, OH. So, we are located in the VERY northern tip of Kentucky, not from the south. The other reason is, St. Jude's focuses more on pediatric cancer. I'm not sure if they have a cardiac unit or not. I have never looked into it. We are very confident in the doctors that she has at Cincinnati Children's.

2. Do you know how lucky you are to have a heart kid that likes to eat?

YES YES YES!!!! As most of you know, a lot of heart babies have a problem getting enough calories. Ryan has PLENTY!! In fact, she was always off the charts for her weight until she was a year old. At that point, she was still in 95th percentile. Now, she is in the 80th percentile. She doesn't eat near as much now as she did when she was a baby. When she was a baby, she wanted that bottle and baby food ALL the TIME!!! We didn't let her have it whenever she wanted, but she was VERY CHUNKY!!!

Ryan at 5 months old...check out the arm rolls

3. Did Ryan have any symptoms of heart disease when she was born?

Ryan was born with a blueness to her lips and nail beds, however, when we asked the nurses and docs about it at the hospital, they told us that because her head was in the birth canal for so long and I had such a long labor (17 hours) and Ryan was taken via c-section, she could have had a lack in oxygen. We didn't question it anymore because by that night, it was gone. It may have been cyanosis, but there is no way to know for sure now. We are just thankful that the doctor's found out about Ryan's heart when they did.

4. How old was Ryan when she was diagnosed?

Ryan was diagnosed at just under 1 month with her CHD.

5. Do I think I will have more kids and if so, are they at risk for CHD?

I will probably not have any more children. I would like to have a boy one day, but I'm not sure that will happen. CHD's are not genetic as far as we know, so another child would probably not be at higher risk for heart disease, however if I did have another baby, I would get tests done while pregnant to find out if the baby was ok.....I would rather know ahead of time, then get another surprise diagnoses.

That is all the Q&A that I have for now, but feel free to ask more!! I have no problem at all answering any questions about Ryan. Thank you for all the support once again for Ryan!! It is very much appreciated!! We are so blessed to have so many people in our lives that care so much!!! I have a pretty busy weekend ahead of me so I'm not sure when I will post again, but I hope everyone has a great week!!