Maddison's Second Open Heart Surgery

Maddison came in for her second open heart surgery on the 21st of February. It was a long day, over 10 hours in the operating room but we got through it. Maddison did great and she is recovering well. They did have to leave her chest open for 24 hours just to allow some swelling to go down. Yesterday they were able to close it and she is doing quite well at this point. Today they had hoped to get the chest tubes out but she is still putting out a lot of fluid so they've decided to keep them in for another day or so.

She is retaining a lot of fluid at this point so they went up on her Lasix which allows her to get rid of fluid faster. Her feet are so puffy and big! They look like they could pop! Overall there is not a lot going on today. They are going to take the RA line out of her chest today which is a pretty small line but apparently a big deal to come out so we are happy about that. They will reconsider taking out one or all 3 of the chest tubes tomorrow after the Lasix has some time to work.

They are working slowly on getting her off the ventilator but they can't completely take her off of that until the 3 chest tubes are out. We hope within the next week or so she'll be on her way to waking up. The worst part is not being able to hold her and talk to her.

She is a tough cookie though! She's strong and has a great will to live that's for sure. It always puts a smile on my face when I have a nurse or doctor come in and tell me that she has exceeded their expectations! Couldn't ask for more.

Thank you to everyone who is keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers!

Ashley

Below is a photo of Maddison today, Feb. 23rd with her chest closed.