In meeting with Dr. Fraser, he estimated it would be another hour and a half, so we should be able to see Cannon by about 8:30. By 9 we still hadn't been called up, so I went and asked. I don't believe the ICU was quite ready for us, but they agreed to allow us up there.
Seeing Cannon for the first time after surgery wasn't as traumatic as you'd think. Wasn't much blood and gore, no open chest wounds. Lots of tubes and sensors, but pretty mild. His breathing tube was in his nose, not his mouth. When I asked, it was explained this was because they can feed his little body with enough air through a tube that fits through his nose... didn't need a tube so big that it would go through his mouth.
The team that was in charge of his care was Tracy (ICU Nurse), Dexter (respiration), and Fidel (not too sure of his role, but I know he helped Tracy a lot). They were all clearly knowledgable of their duties and what to do, and weren't intimidated by Cannon's delicate condition or extreme case. Tracy shared with us immediately the reason we were delayed in coming up to the ICU was because Cannon was having a rough time coming out of anesthesia and his heart wasn't quite cooperating. One doctor summed it nicely: they are "negotiating" with his heart, trying to find a compromise between the heart and medicine.
We got a full download from Tracy of everything connected to Cannon and what it does. He has an IV in his right foot, a cath to drain urine, 3 chest tubes to drain the heart cavity, an atrial line measure the pressure in the atria, three electrodes connected directly to the heart (ground, atria, ventricle... this proved handy), an atrial line in his neck, and another in his wrist to give massive doses of meds straight to the heart, a pulse ox sensor, a standard IV, a sensor around his head to measure oxygen in the brain, and a breathing tube through his nose.
We could only have two folks in ICU at a time, so we had to cycle all the family in quickly. The ICU was supposed to close to visitors at 9, we were up there well after because the surgery ran so long. The staff was very understanding and allowed us to cycle the whole family through to see Cannon before leaving. In the midst of the cycling of family members, Cannon's eyes opened wide and looked right at me, but it looked like no one was home (just a bodily response to some kind of stimulus). Family eventually left, Tori and stayed until midnight or so. While we were there:
Heartrate: 139 +/- and holding
Blood Pressure: 69/47 (looking for 92/60)
Atrial Pressure: 18 (looking for 8)
CO2: 40 (looking for 30)
Pulse Ox: 96 (looking for 100)
Temp: 102 (looking for 98.6)
Lactates: 1.9 (looking to stay under 2)
Tracy assured us Cannon would NOT wake up through the night (yay for super-meds) and we felt comfortable enough to leave his side and go get a nap at the hotel. We're blessed to be able to walk from Cannon to our hotel room without ever going outside.
The day wrapped up without much fanfare. The surgery was complete, Cannon survived and was in a coma-like state under the best care in the world... a TCH ICU. His numbers weren't great, but acceptable. In our state of mind, a heart-rate over 0 was GREAT!!
No comments:
Post a Comment