Beau's Surgery (Feb 2-4)

I'll start from the beginning...

We originally had Beau's surgery planned for Monday, February 3rd, with pre-op appointments on Friday, Jan 31st.  Well, on Wednesday morning (after getting 8 inches of snow the night before) Andrew and I were talking in the kitchen about road conditions for our Thursday morning drive to Philadelphia and how we were worried about what vehicle would be a better choice to drive if the road conditions were not improved before them.  Within MINUTES,  we got a call from the cardiac center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia asking if we could push his surgery back just a day with pre-op appointments on Monday (Feb 3) instead of Fri (Jan 31) due to the surgeon needing to arrange his schedule.  We were very relieved and knew the Lord was orchestrating safe travel before surgery!

So Sunday morning we got on the road around 9am after gassing up and getting snacks. We decided to call some family and friends who live on the way to see if we could stop by and visit.  The Brown Family, friends of the Muhs family from when they lived in DC, accepted our invitation to stop by so they could meet Beau.  So on our way we stopped by their house and enjoyed some delicious chili, puppy Briar cuddles, some poor SuperBowl football, and good conversation. We took quite the break and got to our hotel around 10pm on Sunday night.  Beau was a ROCKSTAR in the car and slept pretty much the whole way.

Sharon and Beau                 Andrew and Briar


On Monday morning (Feb 3), we were up early and to the hospital by 9:30am for appointments at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  We had an ECG (checks electrical waves of Beau's heart), an echocardiogram (picture of heart) and he had pre-surgery blood work taken.  Below is a picture of Beau's heart that is the best view of his "open" heart.  When the one large valve in the middle of his heart is open, it is one large open space in his heart where all his de-oxygenated and oxygenated blood is mixing.  I think it's INCREDIBLY fascinating so I thought I'd share.

One of the physician's assistants explained the surgery again to us.  She told us about the wires and tubes Beau would be hooked to after surgery and also explained what material Beau's patches would be made of to fix his walls and pulmonary artery.  Pericardium (the double-walled membrane sac around the heart) will be used as the patch between the R and L atrium to create the top two heart chambers. Dacron (a synthetic material similar to polyester) will be used to create the patch between the R and L ventricles to create the two, separate bottom pumping chambers.  Lastly, they will use homograft (a tissue graft donated from a donor... yes, cadaver tissue) as the patch for the pulmonary artery. It was all very informative!

 

Beau's final echo and ECG before surgery

Andrew and I had dinner at the TGIFridays which is attached to the hotel.  By now my nerves were kicking in! I just had this horrible ache in my chest that I just could not shake.  I am not a typical worrier and handle my emotions pretty well so this was new for me.  I read a quote by Beth Moore earlier this week that I just love and I wanted to share: Faith is not believing in my own unshakable belief.  Faith is believing an unshakable God when everything in me trembles and quakes.  It reminded me of one of my favorite Bible verses: Psalm 62.8 Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  It gave me assurance that Our ROCK has Beau IN HIS HANDS and I need not worry as it doesn't change the outcome.

Here are some final photos of Beau with a 'clean' chest the night before surgery. 

 Getting some Mommy and Daddy Love.

 February 4, 2014
So the BIG day finally arrived!  After about 4 hours of sleep and a morning busy, we were out of the hotel room by 7am to get there by 8am.  After check-in we got some Beau cuddle time.

We were brought back to the pre-op pod room to prep Beau.  He got a bath and the nurses took all his vital signs.  The nurse told us she would get a call when to give Beau his pre-operation med to settle him down before our separation.  The surgeon's previous surgery must have run long because we waited for almost an hour before they finally called down.  He was given the pre-med at 9:47am. Then close to an hour after that, the anesthesiologist finally showed up to take Beau away.  This waiting period actually gave us a lot of time to just be with Beau and relaxed our nerves a bit.  We walked to the elevators with the anesthesiologist and gave Beau his last kisses and they were off (this was at 10:38).  

Love these faces!

Here are some photos of Beau getting "checked out" and him in his purple space-koala gown! 

We had to wait for such a long time and he was VERY fascinated by the glow-song activity box.

From there, Beau's nurse took us to a room to wait for Dr. Spray.  We talked with her for about 45 minutes before he was able to show up.  We talked with him for less than 10 minutes and he explained the procedure again to us and then by 11:30 he was off to give Beau his CUSTOM MADE HEART!!  Our nurse then gave us a short tour of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) and took us to the waiting area and there was a screen that told us the surgeon began at 11:46am.  I took a quick pump break and by the time I was done and got back to the waiting room, the nurse came with her first update at 12:05pm to tell us Dr. Spray was already sewing on patches!! We went down to the hospital cafeteria (which was surprisingly good). By the time we got back up, within minutes of sitting down, the nurse called again (now 1:11pm) to tell us the surgery was done!  The doctor was doing the trans-esophageal echo to check things out before they patch Beau up! This is a procedure where they put the echo probe down his throat to get the pictures as opposed to through his chest. We were overwhelmed with relief and could hardly believe the surgery was finished so fast!  Dr. Spray meant it when he said he had been doing this for 30 years! 

Here was a little "Sunshine" while we waited!

The nurse came to get us 1:45pm to tell us Beau was finished, sewn back up and the breathing tube was taken out!  WOOHOO!!  Praise God!!!  We were then taken to a private waiting room for Dr. Spray to come give us the synopsis.  He came in to tell us the surgery was very successful with no surprises (just what the echo showed).  He told us the patches were perfect and did not even leak! Another sigh of relief.  From there we had to wait a while longer before being able to see our sweetie for the first time. He looked great with very little swelling and of course had about 8 tubes in his body.  Below is a diagram to tell you what the different lines are and what they're for.

Arterial Line - Monitors Blood Pressure

Right Atrial Line - Checks pressure in the right atrium

Leads - Check his heart rate, respiration, ECG waves

IV in right leg - For medications and IV fluid

Rectal Temp Probe - reads a core temperature

Catheter - Urine output

Nasal Cannula - Gives Beau oxygen at 100%.  This is standard for children after surgery and will decrease in the coming days.

Pacing Wires -  Sit outside the heart in case the rhythms are abnormal, gives access to an external pacemaker if needed.

IV in left arm -  for Lasix diuretic (Diuretic is used for fluid elimination from the body.)

Chest Tube - Drains fluids from the chest cavity by using a low amount of suction to drain into a bulb for collection (called a Jackson-Pratt Drain).

Pulse Oxygen Monitor - monitors the amount of oxygen the blood is carrying to the extremities.

So you might think it's overwhelming a bit.  Most probably think it is.  However, with Beau's extended NICU and hospital stay, we are used to all the lines and cords. Ultimately, we have the mentality of, "Whatever is takes for a little man to be healthy again." 

All and all, today went very smoothy and we are beyond relieved and thankful. THANKFUL for The Great Physician who had an amazing hand of protection and healing on our baby boy.  THANKFUL for the amazing medical coverage we get through Tri-care. THANKFUL for Dr. Alderson, our cardiologist, for her perfect referral to Dr. Spray at CHOP.  THANKFUL for Dr. Spray and his expertise in cardio-thoracic surgery. THANKFUL for the medical team taking care of Beau now in the CICU. THANKFUL for all those who donated blood (and tissue) for Beau's heart.  THANKFUL for the hundreds of thousands of people who were praying for Beau today, the days leading up to surgery, and now for his recovery.  We have an amazing support system and words can't truly express our gratitude. 

 Truly He is my rock and my salvation;  
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 
Psalm 62.8