Update #1

Well, it kind of feels like Groundhog's Day sitting up here in the Ronald McDonald lounge area and anxiously waiting for the buzzer to go off indicating an update. A little eery. Except it's definitely more quiet today than last time - we are the only surgery happening on the cardiac floor given that it's a Saturday so it's pretty much just us, the coffee maker, and ESPN Game Day.

Onto the update: they took Quinn this morning at 8am to get her under anesthesia. She slept great last night (thanks to some Lortab) and was not too irritable this morning thankfully. She was all about daddy and cuddling while we waited for the team to come to 15. Dr. Fraser came in to speak with us again and offered some reassuring pats on the back. I asked him if he had a good night's sleep and he assured me he did :)

It was a little different on the hand-off today than the last time. The first surgery they took us up to a holding room on the 18th floor until the team came to take her away once administering the "happy drugs". This time, that  holding area was closed (again given that it's a Saturday) so we literally traveled up with Quinn to the 18th floor and stood right in front of the elevators and the dreaded double metal doors leading to the operating room. Then they gave her the drunk drugs, waited until she was nice and happy, and then took her away. I'm not going to talk about how I felt about my little girl being taken from me again, but you can imagine.

We just received our first update and Quinn went under fine. She is 100% stable and stats are good. They have placed all the chest tubes and ivs in preparation for opening and used their endoscopic echo to visualize and confirm the findings from the exterior echo yesterday. No surprises so far but they won't truly be able to see everything until she goes on bypass and they can see how the patch is leaking.

They were just about to make the incision when the nurse came to speak with us so they should be in now. Once they get in, they will spend a considerable amount of time clearing away any scar tissue that started to form from the first surgery. Once that is clear, then they will begin to get in place the instruments to go on bypass. We expect we will be ready to go on bypass at around 11:00am. If you remember from last time, going on bypass is a critical juncture. Please be in prayer at around this time that she goes on as smoothly as last time.

And just a couple of notes that I left off from my last blog post as my mind was so rattled yesterday:

-Quinn's liver function tests came back a little high, but not unexpected for someone who has an enlarged or swollen liver. Nothing to be hugely concerned with - it simply is a symptom of what's happening in her heart. However, to give you an idea, not only is it swollen, but it's also been pushed down by the pressures in her body almost 5cm (about 2 inches) below where it should be. That is a HUGE amount for a little girl. This explains a lot of her being uncomfortable.

- And one thing I purposefully left off until I could tell my family is that Quinn's right side of her heart was virtually going into heart failure. Scary. It doesn't mean that she would have coded over the weekend or anything but that's why she continued to trend downwards. Thank God we have an amazing surgeon willing to operate on a Saturday and get her back on the road to recovery. We are more and more at peace with knowing that while we hate that she has to endure another open heart surgery, we are desperate for her to feel better again - and this is the only way.

We love you all and will continue to keep you posted in the hours to come. I promise not to be as lengthy with the next updates :)

Believing in God's power to heal. Jeremiah 29:11.

In His Mighty Grip,