Day 2 Wrap-Up

Another long day in the CICU is over.  Ivy spent a lot of time being grumpy (understandably), and yelled at her nurse and I several times.  It was pretty funny actually because she was so demanding but cute at the same time.  It was hard not to laugh when she'd get angry at the nurse for touching her.  Anyway, this morning she got her arterial line out (as previously mentioned), and a few hours later I talked her into letting me start the slow process of removing the sticker thingy from her forehead (it was all stuck in her hair and eyebrow like crazy), and then we took the line out of her neck, replaced some yucky bandages that had been thrown up on, and took out her catheter.  She did so good through all of that and didn't even cry.  Doesn't she look better with her fresh bandages, cleared forehead, and semi-managed hair?  

Afterward, I managed to coerce the nurse into no longer restricting her liquids since it'd been hours since she'd thrown-up.  Its been much more pleasant in Ivy's corner of the CICU since.  She's been less angry, sleeping a little bit better, and more agreeable.  By dinnertime she was allowed solid foods and the nurse told me I could order her anything she wanted.  I offered chicken nuggets, quesodilla, and mac n' cheese.  She thought about it and then said, "I want a cheese pizza and a cheese breadstick."  Luckily, both options were on the menu, so I agreed.  I had to leave for the nurse shift-change before her dinner arrived at her bed, and when Scott and I returned she hadn't taken a single bite (and she also had a bowl of cereal as an alternative that was untouched).  She was drifting in and out of sleep because she had just had a good cry over her Art Line being removed!  Yay! (not yay that she cried, yay that the art line is out of her hand).  Hopefully her appetite will return tomorrow.

So by the end of the day all she has left is: one IV in her right hand, one IV in her right foot, 3 chest tubes for drainage, 2 pacemaker wires, and oxygen.  What a superstar!  Word is that she will most likely be moved to "the floor" tomorrow, which means she'll be out of the CICU in her own private room with a bathroom and fold out sleeping area for mom.  I'm very excited about this.  I hope there is an available room.  Thanks for all the prayers and love.  We love you all!

Twenty-four hours later

Well....it's been kind of a hard twenty-four hours for Ivy. She's having trouble sleeping, her pain medication makes her crazy itchy, and she still doesn't get to drink as much water as she'd like. She's thrown up a few times (which is why they are limiting her liquid intake), so they have put her on some reflux medicine and anti nausea medicine and she hasn't thrown up since about 8:30 this morning. Hopefully she'll be allowed to eat something very soon.


She had her arterial line removed around 1 pm and we're hoping to have a few more lines removed before the day is out. She is quite grumpy and opinionated and is quick to tell people when she doesn't like them (which is often). She's thrown a couple of tantrums over being thirsty and even tried to rip a few chest tubes out! She also really wants to sleep on her stomach, but can't for obvious reasons. She's feeling kind of picked on, I guess.

The good news is that she has been able to sit up a little bit (she even did a sort of dance while watching happy feet), and after she gets a few more lines out she'll hopefully be able to move around more, and maybe I could hold her, because she really would love that (and so would I!).

 Please keep not as sweet as normal Ivy in your prayers today. She could really use some good sleep and relief from the itching (Benadryl just isn't cutting it!).

Nurse shift-change= perfect time to wrap-up the day

Man, its been a long day!  Long, but pretty darn good under the circumstances.  We woke little Iver's up at about 6am to get to PCMC by 7 and she was of course super happy.  She was a perfect angel when she got vital's checked and measurements taken, and she was super excited about her spiffy operation jammies and yellow "sticky" socks.

 She loved the toys in the waiting room and didn't really want to be away from them, but when the anesthesiologist came to get her for the surgery, she went without any crying or squirming or complaining.  She is such a sweet girl.  It was hard for us to say goodbye to her, but she willingly gave hugs and kisses and we watched her be wheeled away in her little wagon.

 We waited in the surgery waiting room for 7 1/2 hours.  Luckily the docs called with plenty of updates and we had lots of entertainment.  Scott played games on the iPad and did tons of homework, while I made Ivy an amigurumi Ariel doll (check out the sweet diggs below).  We also had Gma and Gpa Floyd there to visit for a while, and Gma Marde stayed home with our other kids, taking them to swimming lessons and to Macy's (and probably did lots of other cool things).

 We finally got to see sweet Ivy at about 4pm.  She opened her eyes right as we got to her bedside and immediately informed us that she needed a drink (and continued to inform us every time she woke up), but no drinks allowed so soon after surgery.  Poor girl.  She had a lot more blood drainage than they expected for the first little while in the CICU (cardiac intensive care unit), but its stabilized now.

 All of her vitals look great!  Including her oxygen saturations (the blue 94), we've NEVER seen that number so high!  We had to get a picture of that for evidence!

 Her many meds (although three of them weren't actually being administered at the time, they are there on an as needed basis).  She's doing so well!

 Her temperature started to go up, which they tell us is normal.  So she got a cool rag on her head and they let us give her a popsicle which "tasted redish/pinkish" according to her.  It kind of satisfied her a little, but she's still begging for water!  But the rag and popsicle are helping her temperature go back down.  She also complained about "hurting" so she was given some morphine for pain just as we were leaving for the nurse shift-change.

 She is still so cute and pleasant (even though she really wants that water, and no one is giving it up).  The nurses are doting on her and feel lucky to have our cute girl as a patient.  What a sweetheart!

Thanks to everyone that prayed or thought about our little girl today.  We appreciate all the love we've received.

update number one

Ivy is doing well.  She's almost off the bypass machine.  She should be transported to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) in about an hour and a half and we should hopefully see her about an hour after that.  Thanks for all the prayers...

Gma Marde, our phone service is not working at all...none of our texts are going through.  I hope the kids are doing okay.  Thanks for all your help!

Surgery has begun

Little brave Ivy headed back to the operating room at about 8:30am.  She didn't cry at all (although tears were shed by others).  The doctors were going to start with a transesophageal echocardiogram (an echo down her throat) before they began the actual surgery.  The surgeon (Dr. Burch), expected to start on the surgery between 9:30 and 10 and finish by about 3pm.  We just met Dr. Burch for the first time this morning, and he seems like a nice, capable guy.  Although I'm extremely nervous, I am sure she is in good hands.  Please keep her in your prayers and we'll update again in a few hours.

update:  As I was posting this, we got an update that surgery has just begun and she is doing very well.  It should take about an hour to get through all her scar tissue and they will update us again as soon as she is on the bypass machine.

Surgery WASN'T Cancelled

Remember 3 years ago when we came to SLC to for Ivy's Glenn Operation right around the 4th of July and the docs told us the surgery had been cancelled and somehow nobody had informed us?  We had that day in the back of our minds today as we went in for Ivy's pre-op stuff (Echo, Ekg, X-ray, bloodwork, physical, etc), but were happy to find that history did not repeat itself.  Surgery is still on for Wednesday the 11th.

We got to the hospital this morning just after 8 to get all of her stuff done.  We were actually scheduled to have to go in both today and tomorrow (today for cardiology stuff, tomorrow for cardiothoracic surgery stuff), but I called the hospital in advance and arranged to get it all done in one day so we wouldn't have to come so many days in a row.  One department ended up giving us a hard time (ahem..same day surgery *cough cough*), but after talking to more people and much persuasion they gave in and did the physical and medical history that they didn't want to do until tuesday.  I'm so good at nagging.

Anyway, Ivy was a trooper and only cried twice the whole day (even though she wasn't allowed to eat until after the echo at 1:30pm).  One crying incident occurred during bloodwork, no surprise there, and the other happened when a little boy in one of the many waiting rooms started to play with a car that she had previously played with.  Other than that she was pleasant as punch, and even left her first urine sample in a cup. I can't even do that under pressure.  Here are some pictures we took throughout the day.  Enjoy!

Not the car that tears were shed over, but similar.

Waiting to meet the cardiologists

During her EKG....She had 13 wires attached with stickers (it sucked to take all those stickers back off!)

Finally time for lunch.  She's SO happy!

A GIANT bite!

Ps...The other three kids are still alive and doing well.  They spent the day with Grandma Marde at swim lessons, jumping on the trampoline, and getting books from the library.  Grandma Marde is so much fun!

3 days to go

Hello everyone!  After 1 full week of no internet at wonderful Bear Lake with Scott's awesome family, we are now at Grandma Marde's with some wifi!  Yay!  There are too many blog posts in my dashboard and not enough time, so I apologize for not reading if you have posted in the last 7 days. Also, if you are looking forward to my Bear Lake post (which I'm sure you are!) you'll have to wait til I get around to it.  Its a busy time for us right now.

Anyway, I actually have a reason for posting today.  Ivy is having open-heart surgery on Wednesday.  We are having a family and friend fast tomorrow.  If you are willing and able to fast for our sweet little girl and her surgeons this week we would really appreciate it.  If you aren't into that sort of thing, regular prayers, crossed fingers, and happy thoughts are welcome.

Oh man, I love that face!

We have a busy week ahead full of x-rays, meeting doctors, getting blood work done, and of course surgery and recovery.  I do not call individual people to update on Ivy's status...its way too hard (plus, no cell service in the hospital, but there is free wifi!), but if you want to keep up with everything that goes on, please check the blog (I don't have facebook), I will update regularly.

Please keep little Ivy in your thoughts and prayers this week.  Thanks in advance!