The Latest

Due to the delay in surgery time, we arrived at the hospital at 9:00 am. It was nice to sleep a couple more hours than we thought we would be able to. We waited until about 11:30 in the waiting area before they called Caden back to get ready. We changed him into hospital pajamas and waited a few more minutes. Then they took us to pre-op where Caden had a bed. He got to watch TV and choose several small toys out of a toy chest. Then they gave him Versed, a pre med, to help him relax. While this took effect, the anesthesiologist came in to talk to us. She is the same anesthesiologist Caden had for his MRI in December. I really liked her then and I was glad to see her again. I was surprised though, because yesterday they told me it would be someone else.

 

 Versed makes a happy boy

When the anesthesiologist was done talking with us, it was about 12:30 pm and they were ready for Caden. So she took him from us and held him as they walked out of the pre-op area. He was laughing and smiling as she walked away with him. That was all thanks to the Versed. Without that he would have been extremely grumpy! But it is so hard to hand your “baby” over to the doctors and nurses and watch them walk away. :'( 

Sorry it's blurry but it's the only pic of them walking away with Caden

We went and grabbed some lunch while we waited. As soon as we finished eating, Greg had to participate in a conference call for work and I headed back to the surgery waiting room. After a few minutes, Dr. Teimour Nasirov came in to find me. Teimour is a good friend of ours and he is a pediatric cardiac surgeon at Sutter Memorial in Sacramento. He also participates in surgeries at LPCH when his schedule allows. He was finishing his fellowship while we were here when Caden was a baby. We chose today as the surgery date because both Dr. Reddy and Teimour would be available.

Teimour told me he had been called to fly to Loma Linda to get the heart for the transplant taking place here at LPCH overnight last night. He had just gotten back to LPCH and was supposed to scrub in for Caden's surgery. But an emergency came up in Sacramento and he had to get back there right away to do surgery tonight. I am so disappointed he isn't able to be part of Caden's surgery. I know Dr. Reddy is more than capable, but we really wanted Teimour to be part of it as well. I am so grateful for him taking the time to come talk to me while we waited. He said he checked in on Caden before coming to see me and that he was doing well.

We talked for about 10 minutes and I asked him several questions. He has been such a support to us throughout this journey with Caden. When we first heard Caden might have another congenital defect which needed repair, I was able to call Teimour and talk to him about it. He helped us get set up with the echo and MRI at LPCH in December. And he was the one to call me with the official diagnosis of Scimitar Syndrome after the MRI results were in. He has always been willing to answer any questions I have and be so reassuring as we have had to face this surgery. I am so disappointed he is not in the operating room with Caden right now. But he can only be in one place at a time and he is responsible for the kids in Sacramento so I understand he needs to be there tonight.

A few minutes after Teimour left, Dr. Reddy came into the waiting room to talk with me before he headed to the OR. He asked about the medications Caden has been on, and inquired about his overall respiratory health since that is what we struggle with more than anything else. Then he asked me if I had any questions. I asked him about using bovine tissue or something else to create the baffle (tunnel). He said he would most likely use pericardium. Then I reminded him he used pericardium when he plicated Caden's diaphragm during his first heart surgery four years ago. He said he would see if there was still enough for him to use in today's surgery. If not, he said he would probably use a man-made product. It is not gortex, but it isn't bovine either. I can't remember the name of it though. But he said he was very optimistic about the outcome of Caden's surgery and thought the baffle would be ideal for him in re-routing the blood from his pulmonary veins to the correct part of the heart. He told me he was headed up to scrub in for surgery after he talked to me.

Greg came back a few minutes later. He missed all the excitement around here and missed being able to talk to the surgeons. But it couldn't be helped. I updated him on all that I found out. While we were talking the nurse came and gave us the official update that Dr. Reddy began surgery at 2:05 pm. Her next update will be around 4:00 pm.

I have complete faith in Dr. Reddy or we wouldn't be here. But it is always scary when they have to go back into the chest because of all the scar tissue. The nurse told us it's a positive thing Dr. Reddy did Caden's first surgery because it means he knows his chest. He would do things the same way and would know what to expect when he got inside. I think that is good. So, we continue to wait. At some point during the next few hours, we are supposed to tour the CVICU. Otherwise, we have nothing but time. So here I am updating the blog and reading facebook. We thank you for your prayers!