Updated 7pm - Surgery Day!

---------------------------------------------updates below--------------------------------------------------- 

Hello family and friends,

Surgery day is here. I woke up at 4:15am and got to the hospital at 6am to check Lucas in. We got taken back to get vitals and talk with the Surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologist and they took Lucas back to begin his pre-operation stuff. My friend Louise is with me, we left the hospital around 7:30am. 

They said it would take about 1hr-1.5hrs until he would actually be in surgery. They gave me a cell phone to get updates on, but clarified that it may mostly be that the surgery has started and that it is finished. No news is good news.

We just heard that the surgery started at 9:16am!

The surgery will take 4 hours at the minimum. They will test the repair once complete and if they see anything that needs additional attention, they could go back in and it could take another 2 hours.

I'll post updates on here if you get curious and I'll send out another e-mail once the surgery is complete!

Updated: 12:38pm

Hello Everyone,

At 12:38pm they messaged me that his surgery was wrapping up which is on the shorter side of the timeline they gave us. I was wrapping up lunch with my sister Rebekah, Godmother Sue & friends Nora and Louise when I got the message. They were very good at distracting me during the surgery.

I headed back to the hospital with my friend Louise, and Godmother Sue. We waited for a few minutes and by 1:03pm I had spoken with the surgeon and he was very happy with how the surgery went. Lucas didn't need any extra blood and everything is functioning very very well. The surgeon clarified that if we were to measure the blood flow of a normal heart, there would be a certain about of "leaking" and the repair they did on Lucas was showing barely any leaking at all. So even better than our own hearts. 😊

There just aren't words for how relieved I am. I was intentionally living inside this moment where I would walk into his hospital room after a successful surgery and find him alive and well and now I'm here. I'm just so grateful for the wealth of messages, love, support and prayers that have been poured out surrounding this surgery for Lucas and our whole family. Thank you so much! I wish there was a better, deeper, more profound version of the words "thank you" that really captured the profound impact your love has made on our family and these circumstances.

Recovery

Praise God that we are now in recovery mode. The good news keeps on coming! I just talked to the nurses and doctors and they echo the surgeon that the procedure went really well. Right now Lucas has an IV in his neck that is allowing them to administer medication into an artery, a breathing tube in his nose, and a chest tube. They originally said that the chest tube usually comes out in 2-3 days & the breathing tube could come out fairly quickly if he is breathing on his own after surgery.

He IS breathing on his own so that is the first thing they are talking about this afternoon. Just 2 hours after surgery they are going to let him wake up a bit and then take it out. He'll be awake and aware, but still pretty loopy and out of it with the medication.

Then will be to get the chest tube out and a nurse just let me know that there isn't much coming out of his chest tube at all so if that keeps up, then she wouldn't be surprised if he gets it taken out tomorrow!

He could get the IV's out tomorrow and begin eating by feeding tube again. If he gets all that stuff off then I could actually hold him to soothe him tomorrow! Also, if all that goes well, then he would be moved out of the ICU tomorrow as well and finish out his recovery from the "floor" which is general recovery.

This is all wonderful news.

If you are interested to see, I'll include a picture below. I'm so fully of hope that we'll be able to see him awake and recovering strongly very soon.

My plan for the day is to be here when they take the breathing tube out and see that go well. Then once he is settled, since he'll be very sedated because they don't want him agitated at all in the precious first 24 hours, I'll go home and try to get a good night's rest and give Fernando a big hug and see the girls before I return tomorrow first thing and really plan to settle in and stay for his recovery.

Love you all!

Christine

7pm - they took out Lucas' breathing tube which means his lungs are doing great. Lucas woke up briefly and was pretty upset, poor guy. Once they got it out he went back to sleep and looked really peaceful. 

I headed home and will return tomorrow morning first thing to settle into the long haul of recovery. This is the time for me to really invest in my own rest because Lucas will need to be sedated overnight. Lucas has a dedicated nurse overnight in the ICU so I hope I can rest well!

He has a cpap machine to support his breathing while hes sleeping.