Paige's Heart Surgery

Well, it's done. Two and a half years after discovering a heart murmur, Paige's Atrial Septal defect is repaired.

Everything went beautifully. The surgery began at 7:30 am and took only 2 hours. By 10am the following morning, Paige was discharged from the hospital and we took her home.

The most difficult parts of the entire experience were going under and coming out of sedation, as well as our over-night stay.

Dave and I were allowed to take Paige into the operating room and stay with her until she was sedated with gas. This was the hardest part for Dave. Once Paige realized she was the patient, she became terrified. The doctors were wonderful, but she sobbed and her eyes begged daddy to protect her as they covered her face with the gas mask until she became limp.

This was the hardest part for me, seeing her tiny body on that operating table and having to walk away.

The procedure required a catheter to be threaded up a vein in her leg, through her abdomen and into her heart. Down her throat they placed an Eco cardiogram scope which is basically an internal ultra-sound that allows them to watch what they are doing. They measured the size of her hole (10mm), selected the appropriate size and type of device to use, and then released it through the catheter and into the hole. Once they were confident it was securely in place, they pulled back the catheter and the procedure was complete.

They gave us a pager and sent us updates throughout, and finally informed us it was over and we could come back. She was still unconscious but the catheter and breathing tubes were removed. Within minutes she was awake, although still pretty out-of-it and terrified and crying. All of the people in green, the tubes, the beeping, and especially the blood-pressure cuff and ear thermometer were keeping her in a state of high-anxiety. They weren't going to let her go to her recovery room until she calmed down, but thankfully they finally listened to Dave and me when we explained she wouldn't calm down until she was in a more calm environment.

She was still very upset in her recovery room while the nurses fussed around her setting up all her monitors, etc. It also didn't help that she hadn't eaten since 7pm the previous night and she kept begging for "crackers." At least they finally let us give her a little water.

Once all the nurses left and it was only Dave, me, Paige, and Dora the Explorer, life calmed down. They had warned us the 6 hours of laying flat on her back were typically the most difficult, but she was so exhausted she just laid there in a drunken stupor.

And indulged in more television than she has probably watched in her life combined.

At 4:30 they unhooked her monitors and let her walk around the hospital. She was a bit wobbly at first, but was soon galloping around the corridors.

It was a pretty rough night (I may have slept 3 hours.) I made the nurse silence Paige's beeping alarms because they kept waking her up, but unfortunately she still woke up every hour when they came to do their tests, check the site of incision, and tried to take her blood-pressure (man, she hates the blood-pressure cuff!)

Still, one night of misery. Can't complain. Dave joined us at 7am for breakfast and we all walked down the hall for her check-ups. By 10am they discharged her. She and Dave got on one elevator that took them to the car, and I stepped onto another that took me up for my appointment: ultra-sound and non-stress test. Busy morning.

When Paige walked into our apartment, she laid on the carpet and fell asleep. Dave picked her up and she just looked at him and said "Nap? Nap?" Ok sweetheart. You're home. You rest. And she did. We all did.