Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Post-Op Day 1

This is David- After the thrills of our middle of the night phone call and walking in this morning to seeing Grace with a head full of electrodes, today didn't turn out to be as bad as it could have been (Praise God for that!!!!!!!!!!).  We began the morning feeling a littlle ill with motion sickness at the drop in the roller coaster; however, after many discussions with Grace's cardiologist and surgeon, we were able to leave the hospital feeling a little less queasy and are just holding on for the ride.  Perhaps tomorrow we will be able to find a little more joy in this ride.

Earlier today, the Neurology team stated that there was a little unbalanced activity between the left and right side of Grace's brain (which can often times appear after a seizure or in someone prone to epilepsy), but when they checked in for the last time at the end of the day, they stated that the activity appeared a little more balanced (which is a huge praise).  It sounds like there is a chance that seizures and a stroke may be ruled out, based on the preliminary results of the CT scan and the EEG results that they have been monitoring, but they would still like for Grace to have an MRI at some point in order to be sure, as well as continue to monitor Grace (especialy when she wakes up).  A looming fear that Kristi and I both have is that when they wake Grace up, that she won't be the same sweet little Gracie Doo that we adore so much (the skrunched up nose smile, expression with her eyes, her "tricks", etc). Please pray that all the neuro results continue to be negative and that when she wakes up, she will immediately show us all that she hasn't changed a bit.

In regards to Grace's heart, they are monitoring her Left Atrial pressures closely.  There is a possible concern that the repair that was done to fix the regurgitation on her mitral valve has caused the valve to now be too stenotic.  Based upon the results of the echo that was done today, the gradient across Grace's mitral valve was between 10-13, which is moderate and if it stayed at that level then over time the right pressure and lung pressure of Grace's heart would suffer.  Therefore, our cardiologist stated today that the plan will probably be to monitor Grace for a good period of time and if it seems as though her valve is remaining too stenotic, then they might just go back in and do another surgery to replace her valve, rather than send us home to Texas with an iffy valve.  Please pray for God's will to be done with Grace's heart and that He would align our hearts and mind with His will.

Kristi and I think that Grace looks like a little warrior with all of these electrodes stuck to her, well, she is a warrior and we couldn't be more thankful for her!!!! The red that you see on her head is marker, not blood.  Kristi's first comment was, "...wasn't there a different color avaialble for them to use, that doesn't so closely resemble blood!"
                                      

As always, thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!  We feel like a broken record, but we really can't even begin to express how much we appreciate everyone's prayers and encouragement.

1 comment:

Tricia Keierleber said...

PRAYING! So much to pray for and we're praying for it all!

That is always my biggest fear with Annie and her brain- that she won't be the same. So far so good, and with Grace it seems she will be ok too, (obviously I am not a neuro, but from what you described it sounds she will come out the same amazing Gracie Doo!).