Erin Update 5

Erin is now out of the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). I got to hold her for the first time since her surgery, which was a thrill for me. Amazingly, before Erin left the PICU she drank 6oz. in two feedings! For those of you that know Erin well, this is quite a big deal for her, (and us!). Erin is in a great deal of discomfort now, as she continues healing from her surgery. She's a tough little girl and she's hanging in there. We are so proud of her.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! The prayers of so many of you have certainly meant a great deal to our family.

Erin Update 4

Erin continues to amaze us! She came out of surgery yesterday afternoon, after 4-5 hours, breathing on her own, which is unusual. She had a fairly restful night. She is starting to feel some pain which the nurses quickly relieve with morphine. I arrived here at the hospital early this morning, and shortly after, the doctor removed her drainage tube and wires that were in the chest and heart. They will most likely remove her central line later today (which is in her neck), leaving three IVs rather than four. Things are moving quickly and they are already talking about moving her out of ICU today! She recognizes my voice and becomes a little agitated when she does. Although she has still not opened her eyes while we've been here, she is starting to move around a bit and show us all that she's not pleased with all of the wires and probes. But all in all, things could not be going better. Thanks be to God. Thank you for all of your kind comments and prayers. We'll try to check in later today. God bless.

Before and After

Erin's doing fabulous. The doctors and nurses say she's doing better than expected. Her breathing rate has dropped from 60-70 breaths per minute to 15-24! Her heart is working much more efficiently already.

Before surgery...




After...

Erin's Heart is Fxed!

We just spoke with Erin's surgeon. He said all went great. She came off the heart/lung bypass machine quickly. He upgraded Erin's VSD (hole) size from moderate to large. He commented that she is going to "really like her new heart". We're off to go down the hall to try to catch a glimpse of her as she goes from OR to PICU....More later.

Erin Update 3

We just spoke to Holly, our surgeon's nurse. All continues to go well with Erin! She went on the heart and lung bi-pass a little after 1:00. So she is close to half way through the repair of her heart, which includes a patch for the VSD and stitching up two small openings, a PDA and a PFO. They expect to start heating her up (they drop her body temp during surgery) around 3:00 or 3:30 and switch her back to her newly repaired heart at that time. They are expecting about 2 1/2 hours on bi-pass. Erin's repair is being done through the right atrium, then through the tricuspid valve, which is only the size of her pinkie finger. Just amazing! For those of you who have had a child go through this, you know what I mean when I say that pediatric heart surgery is truly a work of art. It's not over of course, but we're starting to feel just a little bit of relief that it's going so well. Once again, I have to say, we are very grateful for the prayers!

Erin Update 2

Dear Family and Friends,

We're finally able to give an update on Erin (the computers have been down at the hospital). Yesterday, late afternoon, Erin's blood work came back with some concerns. Her blood was not clotting properly, so the surgeon wanted additional tests before her 7:30 am start time. Since we could not get lab results that quickly, she was moved back to the 12:00 start time. All blood results came back normal this morning, so we had the green light to get started. Erin went to surgery, smiling and happy, at 11:45 am, and all is going very well. They quickly started the anesthesia and put in all her lines with no complications. They were just about to start the heart repair at about 12:45. The nurse will be updating us again sometime after 2:00 pm. The surgeon said he expected her to be out by dinner time. We'll be posting more when we know. Thanks again for the prayers!!

Erin Update 1 {Moira}

Erin's pre-op testing went well, for the most part. Late yesterday afternoon my parents called saying that the doctors had found Erin's blood wasn't clotting properly. Then after an additional test, they have rescheduled her surgery for noon today.

Again, thank you for all the prayers. I'll keep trying to update you.

They Left...

Erin and my parents left this morning for Children's Hospital Milwaukee, as most of you readers know. As they were leaving some of us just couldn't stop saying our goodbyes!!!  We were worried about her getting kiss-itis from one morning of so many kisses.

Today are her pre-surgery tests. Then tomorrow morning at 7:30 she will be put under and probably around 8:30 they will start the surgery part. We'll keep ya updated:)

Here's Aidan getting one last kiss in before they drove away.

Big Sisters are the Best!

I am so thankful for this girl! Moira's work behind the camera, taking the majority of the photos, makes this blog possible.

Wanna See the Cutest Little Cheesehead?

There he is, nephew Conal, smiling as usual.