Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A free moment

Both girls are napping, so I have a few minutes to update on Olivia's discharge, surgery, etc...
She is so unbelievably happy to be home. I wish the doctors and nurses could see her. The second she hit the floor, she was crawling all over the place, smiling, playing with the kids - just having a good old time. She's eating pretty well. Solid foods are still going better than liquids, but I think she has caught on to the fact that I put her meds in the bottle. She's still doing okay, though. She doesn't have any new medications, so it wasn't as stressful to come home this time. We still haven't gotten our new oxygen set up, but they should be calling today.
We talked with the cardiologist's office yesterday and "the group" decided to wait about 6-8 weeks to take her in for her heart surgery. They are going to concentrate on the subaortic stenosis and possible take a look at the mitral valve again. Dr. S. said he will eventually replace her mitral valve (once it's beyond repair), but not at this time. Once that is done, she would have to continue having surgeries as she grows to keep up with the size of the artificial valve. Obviously, we had hoped to have the mitral valve repaired, not replaced, but if it will keep Olivia's heart pumping away, we'll take it. Like I said, this won't be during the next surgery. They'll hold off as long as possible.
So, basically we are going to make the most of our next 6-8 weeks at home by keeping everyone healthy, healthy, healthy!! There are lots of things to get done before another hospitalization. The kids will get to finish up school, Jack should be able to finish Star Camp at school this summer, we'll get Brooklyn's b'day celebrated, and most of all, enjoy as much family time as possible!

2 comments:

Judy said...

I hope you do get 2 months of good health, so you can get everything accomplished that you have planned. It must be extremely difficult to put everything on hold for a month (or more) to be at the hospital with Olivia. I'm just so glad you guys are home!!

Anonymous said...

Hang in there Olivia (and family) you all are in our thoughts and prayers...(I'm beginning to think Olivia likes those helicopter rides!)

Lynnette and all at MHS