Long day, but a Great Success

We woke up at 4:45 am and arrived at Ronald Reagan Medical Center by 6:00 am. We checked in and waited to be called back.  By 6:30ish we were going over information at admitting, until they sent us to the 2^nd floor by about 7:00 am. We waited there for a couple of hours or more until a Dr. from Dr. Laks’ team came in to tell us that there had been an emergency heart transplant for a 4 month old baby. This was performed in the room that Juliann was supposed to be, so we got bumped. At around 9:30 we got called back to get Juliann hooked up for an IV, urine test, and to go over medical history with nurses and anesthesiologists. Juliann and I just held each other as much as we could, until I had to say goodbye to her at around 10:00 am (they wouldn’t let me go in past that point).

I went back downstairs to “Maddie’s” room (the waiting room which is packed full of people in my same situation). I checked in with the front desk and got a pager (this is used to give us updates throughout the surgery – what a great idea!). My dad left to go check out of his hotel room, and move into mine, while I went to the food center and got some soup and a roll. At around 11:30 am the nurse called and told me that the incision was done, they have started the procedure and everything was looking good.  At 1:30, they called and said that Juliann was successfully on the bypass machine Yay! Now I get another long wait…

5:00 pm – I Just got word that Juliann is off of the heart/lung bypass and her heart is beating on her own! I was about to go crazy, pacing up and down the halls. Dr. Laks was able to do the valve repair, not valve replacement (which is a huge success on a very complicated surgery) and her repairs are holding. Many of our prayers have been answered!

8:25 pm – Finally she is out of surgery, and I am waiting to see her in the ICU. They are making me wait about 30 min so that they can finish cleaning her up from the procedure. I am at least up on the 7^th floor now. Dr. Laks just talked with me and said that everything went fine. Valve repair went well – no leaks. Right atrium reduced in size, and the Maze procedure (fixing electrical misfiring) also went well and beating normally. (No artificial valve and No pacemaker)!

Again, thank you everyone for your help and support. We couldn’t have made it this far with out each of you!