Closing Time - Recovery Day Four (2/5)

"Welcome back everyone and how was your ride? Please wait until the train comes to a complete stop, your lap bar restraints will open automatically and exit to your right.  Thank you for riding Sloan's roller coaster to recovery!"  And that pretty much sums up our day!  

Kyle and I arrived to the hospital around 8am today filled with worry on how Sloan's night went knowing how we left her yesterday.  Once we got there the nurse had told us she pretty much stayed the same all night and that during rounds we'd see what the doctor's said is the right path forward from here.  When the doctors got to Sloan for rounds we were anxious to see what they thought we should do and when it came down to it the doctor bluntly came out and said "to be honest, I have no idea what's going on with her".  That was a crushing statement to hear when you are relying on them for the answers.  To put it briefly, the fluctuation in her stats was stumping them.  She wasn't reacting the way they thought she should (from past experience).  All they could tell us was that they were not going to close her chest and that they needed to start ruling out any other issues that could be causing this fluctuation (kidney issues, brain issues, heart issues).  So an echo was scheduled for her heart which came back that she had good pumping, no major leakage and some narrowing of her shunt - but nothing they would do anything about.  They planned to call the nephrologist around 2pm to look at her kidney's if they didn't start to output more urine by then and they did a brain ultrasound which came back fine.  Finally the doctors came back to talk to us again around noon and said that right now they just wanted to keep her comfortable and support her as they figure things out and that they can't see us closing the chest anytime before Friday or so of this week.  During that time, Dr Bove (our surgeon) stopped in lifted the blanket covering Sloan and said "we are closing her today".  Kyle and I turned to each other out of confusion and happiness.  Dr. Bove felt that the issue was that Sloan is a baby that would do better with her chest closed and that by leaving her open was causing her to have these issues that she had been showing last night.  So, with that said, the closing was scheduled and by 4pm Sloan looked like this.....

Chest Closed, Yipee!!!

Since the chest closure Sloan has been doing really well!  Her stats have been great and she's tolerating everything.  HUGE step today! So Kyle and I have been able to step off the roller coaster, at least for awhile.  And she looks so much better with the chest being closed.  Slowly moving towards her healing.  Thank god for Dr. Bove!

While mom & dad were enjoying time on cloud nine celebrating Sloan's success, big brother was at home getting some play time in the snow.  He'll be up tomorrow for a visit and we cannot wait!

Sloan also had another visitor today.  Our friend, Barb, stopped by for a visit and to meet Miss Sloan.  Here's a quick photo of Barb with Sloan hidden under all those blankets. She was a bit cold still from the chest closure procedure so they wanted to try and warm her up a bit.

Hoping for a quiet night and another good day tomorrow.  We know this roller coaster can pick up again at any moment, but for today we'll enjoy the break!