Baby D. Heart Surgery Update

Life has been busy so I haven't had a chance to update on baby D.'s heart surgery. As I said in my last post, he was admitted to the hospital on Monday, May 19th. He was scheduled for surgery in the morning of May 22nd. On May 22nd, Baby D. was ready to head into the operating room, but the operation was suspended. Apparently there weren't any available beds in the ICU for him after the surgery, so it had to be postponed. Only in Bolivia… They told us that a bed would be available that afternoon, and they would hold it for him if he could have his surgery the next day.

Surgery was rescheduled for Friday, May 23rd. I think we were all anxiously awaiting the news that he had been taken back to the operating room. We heard good news, and he was allowed to have surgery! The other exciting bit of news is that Elizabeth, the volunteer who is here caring for Baby D., was allowed to be in the operating room as Baby D. was having his open heart surgery! 

His surgery was to take 3-4 hours, and I was at the hospital for two of those hours. Katrina (a former CDA volunteer who is back for 2 weeks on a visit) and I waited in the waiting room, hoping to hear some update or bit of news. At least while I was there, we heard nothing. We hoped no news was good news! Surgery was over around 12:30pm, and he was taken to the ICU. There was a bit of scare (his oxygen saturations dropped) not long after he was taken to the ICU, but other than that little scare, he's been pretty stable. He hit the 24 hour mark after surgery today which was a big milestone as the first 3 days after surgery are pretty critical. Overall, he's doing well and was able to be extubated today!

Elizabeth posted this picture on Facebook today, and we were surprised by how good he looks!