And what happened then?

Friday 9/14:  "And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say that Ryder's small head grew three sizes that day."

Yes, three sizes.  Friday was a long day...Ryder's Glenn surgery requires that the blood from his head and arms flow through the new "Glenn" surgery site then through his lungs to get back to his heart now instead of going through the heart to get pumped out to the lungs first (like in a normal circulation).  So, when the pressure is high in the lungs, or there is another BIG problem, it doesn't drain...and thus when I got here at 630 Friday I burst into tears.  He looked AWFUL.  His head was soooooo big and swollen he couldn't open his eyes and he literally looked like he got stung by a thousand bees.

And so I cried, and begged for a diuretic drip, and for somebody to do something, anything - to the resident, then to the fellow, then to the attending and then I went to work still crying.  And then I got called back to consent for Ryder to go to the cath lab because Ross was dropping Addy off at preschool.  When the cardiology team got a look at his poor giant noggin they immediately feared his surgical site had become narrowed and he was whisked away with not even enough time to get the blood thinners out of his system.  Thankfully the Glenn was still open but both of his pulmonary arteries got stents doubling their diameters to help the drainage and he came back with [so far] no bleeding problems.  My very awesome division skipped giving me any new consults on Friday - a HUGE blessing because I would never have gotten out of the hospital by the time Friday turned to Saturday.

Within 24 hrs Ryder's head went down at least a size and a half and yesterday he could open his eyes again.  He smiled - probably because his headache finally felt a little better and because he is just, well, amazing.  Addy came up to visit and held his hand and talked to him for a while - it is always hard to decide if it's amusing or just sad that she is completely unitimidated by all the monitors, tubes and wires but either way, it's a good thing for now.  Today, I am finally getting that diuretic drip I was begging for so hopefully by tomorrow our little peanut will look like a little handsome peanut again instead of a cartoon character.  He  was playing with his toys all afternoon and now is fast asleep...will be praying for a LOT of wet diapers to celebrate hospital day 201, which more importantly marks two hundred and one days with our Ryder...


Big sister.

 

Pee, little warrior, pee!!