Hopefully just a Minor Setback

So, the hard part about updating friends and family when a loved one is in the ICU is that things can change in seconds. I thought it was safe to share that Micah had progressed by having his breathing tube removed (it was actually removed at noon). Well about and hour after the update, he was reintubated. He was extubated for about 12 hours and the last three hours were just difficult.

He's a toddler and everyone knows toddlers throw some of the biggest tantrums. He woke up every twenty minutes thrashing about and crying. His SATs dropped, his lactic acid crept up, he got mottled, and finally, after twenty minutes of fitting, he'd calm down. This cycle just isn't good for healing his little heart so the doctor thought it would be safest to reintubate.

Now that he's reintubated, they can give him sedatives and even paralytics to keep him calm so that he heals. It's not ideal, I'd love for him to be extubated, but not if his tantrumming is going to threaten his own safety...

Heart Surgery #2

Thanks so much to everyone for the continued prayers! Yesterday we arrived to CNMC at 5:45a and handed Micah over to anesthesiology at 7:30a. He was SO well behaved. He loved the little car they gave us to stroll around with while we waited.

We got a notification that Micah was put on bypass at 9:38a. We received another notification that surgery was going well, and a final notification that he was taken off bypass at 12:11p. We met with Micah's surgeon, Dr. Jonas at 1p. Dr. Jonas replaced Micah's pulmonary artery conduit that leads to his right and left pulmonary branches. He was even able to mostly closed the hole in his heart (his VSD between his right and left ventricles). This is MAJOR surgery and he told us Micah did really well but since he was still bleeding they decided to wait an hour before closing his chest.

We had lunch feeling SO relieved! Then we headed to to the CICU family waiting room. Around 2:30p we felt like something was wrong because Micah still wasn't in his recovery room and we hadn't heard from any doctors about his status. Heather, Micah's social worker, came and told us they decided not to close Micah's chest because the bleeding wasn't stopping. They needed time to clean him up and get him situated in the recovery room. It was almost 4p by the time we got to see our precious boy. He was so beautiful and I had so many flashbacks of his long hospital stay in 2014. He seems so much bigger lying in his bed. Nurses and doctors keep mentioning how big he looks.
He is on serious pain killers and a heavy paralytic - basically in a medical induced coma.He is so much stronger now! The doctors continue to tell us that he's stable and responding will to weaning his medications. They hope to close his chest sometime tomorrow.

We got a family photo in when Ray relieved me for the night. We weren't sure if we should let Dylan see Micah but he insisted. "Where's Micah? I need to check on him! He's in there? Where is he?!" It was adorable. We got a little video of him saying "I love you" to Micah for keepsake.
I feel really blessed to have such a wonderful little family. We'll continue with the updates! xoxo

Pending Heart Surgery

Micah is scheduled to have his second open heart surgery the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23, 2016. Micah is having his pre-op appointment tomorrow and we're meeting with the surgeon to discuss the procedure. We'll know more tomorrow.

I'm feeling pretty nervous about it. His last hospital stay was nearly four months long. I know he's so much stronger now but I can't help but feel worried. He's come such a long way! I also feel a bit down that he'll likely regress in some areas of development. He's SO CLOSE to walking! And we even went to the park a few times this past week and he loves climbing and going down the slide. Here's a little video of him taking some steps. We'll update everyone Monday or Tuesday. Send us your prayers and positive thoughts!!