The Lehmkuhls: All Patched Up!

Maddie's surgery was Thursday, November 10 and it went off without a hitch! She was in surgery for about 3.5 hours, only 30 minutes of which was the actual procedure. Dr. Starnes was able to patch up her hole in her heart and repair her pulmonary valve and she will not have to have surgery again. The most difficult part of the whole experience for us was walking with her to the double doors to the operating room and handing our little baby girl over to the nurses not knowing what the outcome would be. Of course, she looked adorable and shot us a smile as they took her away...

Right when she came out of surgery she was heavily sedated and had tons of tubes and wires connected to her. We were warned about what she would look like; it was scary at first but as soon as the doctors told us that she was going to be ok, we felt much better. Her recovery went extremely well, by Friday afternoon most of the major tubes and wires were off of her and we were able to hold and feed her. On Saturday night, we were surprised to find out that we were going to be discharged the next day. We were told she would be in the hospital for a week.

So a little over 72 hours after surgery, we were on our way home. Right when we got home she went back to her normal sleep schedule at night and is pretty much back to her daily routine. She is a little whiny but I think it is just because she is still a little sore from her surgery. But who could blame her ?! Besides not being able to pick her up under her arms for 8 weeks - which is taking some getting used to - and one medication she has to take twice a day, we just treat her like a normal little girl. It is amazing how fast she has bounced back from all of this.

Today, on her 6 month birthday (!), we had a post op appointment with her cardiologist and everything looks great! She had some stitches removed - I think she will forever dislike nurses now - and is now medication free. All we have to do now is have quarterly cardiologist appointments. I think we can handle that. :)

Here are some pics from her hospital adventure. Don't worry, I left out the ones that might make some people woozy.