 |
| Matt Matt and Jen Jen, pre-surgery. Happy baby! |
AFTERNOON UPDATE: Things are sounding more positive for Matthew. They have removed one of three chest tubes. He is responding well to diuresis. ABG's look good as well. Planning to extubate him around 7:00 eastern today.
MIDDAY UPDATE: All is progressing with Matthew. It's a hard recovery process (at this point harder for the family members sitting and watching him than for Matthew) but everything seems to be going as expected, which is a good thing. Mimi says he will occasionally raise his arm (though he is not conscious) or move it, which the nurses say is a good thing for him to do. Matt Matt probably knows this instinctively. ;)
MORNING UPDATE: The overall news remains positive for Matt Matt. He had a rough night in terms of bleeding and fluid loss. He received a lot of replacement in terms of packed red blood cells, platelets (and other medical terms Will and Nikki rattled off ;).
His sinus rhythm is normal and has remained so through the night. There was some concern as they were warming him after surgery because he was a "junctional" rhythm (an abnormal heart rhythm that results from impulses coming from a locus of tissue in the area of the atrioventricular node, the "junction" between the atria and ventricles). This corrected on its own however and the continued normal rhythm is positive.
Of course we all want to race ahead to the point where Matthew is up and playing in the outdoor garden space at Boston Children's and walking around in his new light up shoes from Mimi, but it's a tremendous relief to have a successful surgery behind us and now it is one step at a time. Hopefully the breathing tube comes out later today.
Thought I'd share one of my favorite pics with Matthew this morning... just because it makes me smile.
Thinking of you all, Jen! It's great to hear that Matt Matt is recovering well. Meeting him down at the beach earlier this year, I know he is a smart, spunky little guy who will bounce back quickly. I hope he'll be back eating sand (lol) and swimming with Aunt Jen in no time. All of you, take care!
ReplyDelete--Andrea
Can't wait to see how awesome you are tomorrow !
DeleteA funny note regarding the "eating sand" comment: The other day at the Children's Museum, Matt Matt was busily playing in a sandbox area. We looked at him just in time to see him pop a handful of sand into his mouth and begin chewing! Must be tasty!
ReplyDeleteWhen we protested he just grinned! ;-)
I just found your blog in a google search for "junctional rhythm". I have a 3 year old with HLHS. He is pre-fontan. We actually adopted him after the second surgery so we are still learning the ropes of all HLHS means. He's doing really well, but we just got back from his 4 month check and he has developed a junctional rhythm. He's wearing a heart monitor for 24 hours and we are hoping that it corrects itself.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to have found your blog. Praying for a speedy recovery for your sweet man!