Shaun's Adventure

*This blog is alot for my documentation purposes so if the words are boring - skip them and just look at the pictures*

March 18th - Pre-Op appointments with Dr. Williams and the anesthioligists to get Shaun ready for his heart cath. Later that evening, I took Cadence to meet with Christa so she can go play at Kagan's house while we're at the hospital.

March 19th - Chris, Shaun and I are at Brenner's Children's Hospital by 7 am for Shaun to have his heart cath. Shaun goes in, all goes well. We liked the heart cath waiting area because it was warm and quiet :)

In the afternoon Dr. Cook came by and said that after looking over the results of the heart cath, they were uncomfortable with how much his heart muscle was closing off the shunt. The shunt was only operating at about 50%. So, they didn't want him to leave the hospital and we were going to go ahead and do his next surgery on Monday. This seems like a big deal because we were planning on having the surgery the week after Easter but instead, we're moving ahead 2 weeks. early.

All thru the process, Chris and I are grateful for drs who want to do the best thing for Shaun and we completely trust them.

March 20th - hanging out at the hospital watching basketball - it is March Madness after all!

March 21st - Chris and I went home to go to church and Karen came up to stay with Shaun while we were at church. So grateful for great friends! Church was good and afterwards Chris came back to the hospital and I went to Concord Mills to meet up with Christa and the kids so I could spend some time with Cadence and get her clothes for the week. We played, shopped, ate, and had a great time and then I headed back to the hospital.

March 22nd - Surgery Day! This day has been so anticipated in our world - mostly because of the unknown factors - and we know that it will bring lots more freedom and "normalcy" to us so we're so glad that it's here. After several mix-ups concerning DSS and getting proper consents, we're on our way into this 4-5 hour process. Shaun came thru surgery like a champ and was in PICU by the afternoon. They repaired the hole where the shunt had been and took his major vein for the upper half of his body and put it directly into his lungs.

Dr. Cook told us to get a hotel and get some rest because it would be needed as the rest of the week and the recovery process unfolded. Since he was in PICU we couldn't really sleep there anyway and he had a one-on-one nurse all night so Chris and I left. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for someone!

March 23rd - We got up, ate some breakfast at the hotel, adn headed back to the hospital to see how Shaun had done overnight. We walked in and the nurse told us that they had already received orders to send him to a regular room. PRAISE GOD! They said that it's unheard of for a kid to do as well as he had done coming out of surgery and we were quick to tell them that we believed that it had to do with the number of people praying for Shaun. The nurses actually agreed because they said from their perspective it's the only way that a kid with his condition would be ready to leave PICU less than 24 hours after open heart surgery.

Knowing how well Shaun was doing, I went to see Cadence and teach lessons for the afternoon. Chris stayed at the hospital with Shaun. Cadence is having so much fun at the Callaways. Her and Kagan get along pretty well (for 2 3 yr olds) and she seems to be pretty well adjusted to being there. It was great to see her because I've been amazed at just how much I've missed her!

They moved Shaun to room 604 and he spent the afternoon hanging out with Daddy. His feeds were going well, adn the only concern that the drs have is how much fluid he's still retaining. Hopefully it's nothing another day or two on Lasix won't fix :)

I came back to the hospital, Chris went home so he can work the rest of the week, and the healing continues.

March 24th - that's today! Shaun seems kind of miserable which I guess is to be expected. He's still pretty swollen and his face looks kind of like he was in a fight. They're continuing Lasix to help with the fluids in him and switching him to motrin to help with pain. The drs just came thru and seem pretty happy with everything. Dr. Cook even mentioned that he might be going home by the end of the week. So, we'll see.........

Pretty much his favorite thing to do is play with the cords all wrapped up in his feet.

The night before surgery, nurses came in to put in an IV to begin his fluids. They put it in his head! He had pulled out an arm one so I guess this made more sense to them. He didn't mind it once they were finished. We just had to keep his hands off his head.

Such a happy boy waiting to go to surgery :)

Coming out of surgery :( a little sadder but a huge step closer to a more normal life.