Just a quick post to keep you all updated.
Caydence had her big Cardiology appointment this afternoon. She first had a chest x-ray. Next, an echocardiogram, because her Cardiologist and Surgeon wanted to see a few more angles of the heart.
Then we finally got to meet with the Surgeon. He thought it would be a good time to schedule her surgery. Caydence is showing some signs of heart failure. Nothing severe, but enough to warrant surgery. She is breathing harder, she has a little more blood in her lungs, and her heart is a bit enlarged. But the surgeon said this was good because if she wasn't showing, these things, then something could be wrong. Something to do with muscle build up... Josh knows the technical stuff more than me.
Anyway, her surgery is tentatively scheduled for the morning of Dec 14th. It will take roughly 4 hours and is typically a 10 day hospital stay, so hopefully she'll be home by Christmas!
The surgeon has done this specific surgery hundreds of times. In fact he just did one this morning on a three month old. They have all been successful. Of course, he had to tell us there was a 2 - 3% chance of complications and a very very small chance she won't make it. But I just try not to think about it.
Every surgery has it's risks and without this surgery, Caydence definitely wouldn't survive.
If you want to learn more about Caydence's specific heart defect, there is a great website that explains it very well. See http://www.pted.org/?id=atrioventricularcomplete1. If you scroll over the heart diagrams on page 1, it shows you how Caydence's heart looks now, and the what it's supposed to look like. Page 3 shows an animation on how they repair her heart.
To the Mom's out there reading who have gone through this already... Adrienne, Carrie, Andrea... Any advice?!?!?!
I know it's gonna be one of the hardest days of our lives, but I can't wait until it's all over and Caydence's heart is all mended <3
Please keep Caydence in your prayers. Especially on December 14th!
6 comments:
I am glad you finally have a date so it is no longer an unknown. I will keep little Caydence in my prayers. She is a strong little girl and will do just fine. My mother got to put me on the operating table for my surgery and then she lost it. She thought she just put me on my death bed, but I made it with no complications and have had no compications since. I am sure you will have the same fears she did regardless what anyone says, but that day will pass and you will no longer have to fear the surgery because it will be over. Then you an Josh can focus on raising that little princess.
Melissa
Hi Guys - Our 6 year old had surgery this past summer. Not critical surgery, but surgery nonetheless. Watching them take her away is one of the WORST, heart wrenching, stomach turning feelings you'll have. Take some sandwiches/snacks with - the surgery will probably take longer than expected, you'll need to eat, but won't want to leave in case the Doctor comes back. Don't take a lot to do/work on while she's in surgery. You'll read the same page over and over, stare at the same people in the waiting room and won't remember any of it.
We'll keep you in our thoughts that day.
Kris S
People are talking about what <3 means. It's confusing us.
It's a heart <3 Silly
Getting a date is such a relief!! Although it made it feel like the calendar stopped on that day--I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I just felt like if I could make it to that day, everything would work out fine and I couldn't really think about life after that day.
My tips? Take lots of things to distract yourself--we took a laptop to do facebook updates, some games, Sodoku, etc. For recovery we took a 1000 piece puzzle on a poster board (the stiffer kind, foamboard maybe?) b/c it was mindless and we could start/stop working on it easily for when all the various medical people came in and out of the room.
We got Miss B some babylegs (baby leg warmers, they have them at target or you can find them online)b/c someone had said they would be helpful since she couldn't wear cloths at first, but she had tubes all over her legs too, so we didn't get to use them then but I know other people have. (We use them all the time now though--so cute!)
I would check out post-op pictures too, just so you can be prepared. We have a couple of pictures of Miss B on our blog if you want to see them--her surgery was in June. And I would take some naked-baby-pre-scar pictures too, I only have few and I wish I had more.
Good luck! I'll be thinking/praying for you guys! Keep us updated on how it all goes!
I.m so glad you got your date lovie...
I cannot imagine what you are going through, but i will be praying. I'm so glad you have the support and stories of others who've gone through what you are about to...
I love you Jenners!
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