Heart Surgery.....COMPLETE!

 Yesterday was the big day that we've been waiting 14 years for.....Dylan's pulmonary valve replacement surgery. 

When he was 5 months old, he had open heart surgery to fix the numerous problems that his heart had, being born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Thanks to Mayo Clinic for this helpful page that describes this defect - there's a nice picture at the top you can click on for a very brief description. Click HERE.

Being back at Seattle Children's Hospital for another heart surgery yesterday took us right back to being there for his first surgery. If you'd like to read about his first experience and his 10-day hospital stay, you can jump back in time HERE and just click on "newer post" at the bottom of the comments to get to the next entry. There are 15 in total. I'm so glad I captured the experience back then.

It turns out that it isn't any easier to let your child go into heart surgery when they're 14 years old. We arrived at 12:30, waited, got prepped for surgery, and waited more. He finally went back at 3:00 pm.

Then we waited. The surgery lasted 3 hours. After the second hour, we got a message that the operation was finished, and we met with the surgeon while Dylan got cleaned up and came out of the anesthesia. We were so relieved to hear that the surgery went perfectly and that there were not any problems or abnormalities that they encountered. What a relief! 

Here is an x-ray of Dylan's chest from the side. 

Can you see the vertical/curved bone on the left? That's his sternum. And see those five wire ties on his sternum? That is from when they wired his sternum shut after his open heart procedure 14 years ago. It was crazy to actually see those! Looks like they've stretched with his growing bones over time. And if you look to the right of it, you can see the harmony valve sitting inside of Dylan's heart. 

Can't see it? Here, let me help:

 That curvy line coming up from the straw at the bottom is the wire they fished into his heart from the catheter (straw-looking thingy you can see at the very bottom). Amazing! There is a pig valve inside of the harmony valve, so now Dylan is part pig, which is pretty cool when you're a 14-year-old teenage boy!

For a really amazing 2 minute video of how the Harmony Valve works, check it out HERE.

 

We finally got to join Dylan after the 2.5 hour mark, and he was very sleepy.

They had multiple catheters in his heart, operated by 2 surgeons, and they entered the groin on both sides. They also intubated him during the procedure, so his throat hurt quite a bit afterward. 

We then got him transferred to his recovery room. 

He had to lay flat on his back for 4 more hours to allow the incisions at the top of both legs to clot. Here's Justin listening to his new valve and the "clicking" sound it makes.

Dylan finally could sit up and eat his first meal since 6:00 am at 10:00 pm. His food of choice: BBQ chicken pizza and a root beer float!

Our night was not filled with very much sleep, but this cute stuffed piggy from big sister Lindsey I think helped Dylan sleep a little better.

This morning we waited for an ECHO, which took over an hour,

and then an EKG to make sure that the valve is happy and working, and that the procedure yesterday with all of those foreign objects swimming around the heart didn't mess up the heart's electrical impulses to beat regularly. Thankfully, it doesn't appear that Dylan has arrhythmia.

We got the go-ahead to be discharged and left the hospital at 1:00 pm. 

Dylan is sleeping soundly in his own bed right now. He'll be taking things easy for a couple of days and should be back to 100% within a week, which completely blows my mind. This medical technology has only been available in the US for the last 4 years. Before that, Dylan's valve replacement would have been another open heart procedure with a 6+ week recovery time. I am so full of gratitude for this blessing and for the fantastic team of doctors Dylan has here. They've taken such good care of his heart and will continue to in the future.

We have received such an outpouring of love and concern from so many people.....thank you all. We love you. We have felt your prayers, your fasting, your positive thoughts and your love. We have the best village! Thanks be to God for His tender mercies, His miracles big and small, and for His continual watch-care over Dylan and over all of us. ❤️