Recovery Time!



Praise God for a successful first surgery!!!! Kenzie went in on Monday at about 1:30pm and our amazing surgeon came out about 7 hours later to fill us in on how everything went. First, he informed us that it was crystal clear that once they got inside, it was very apparent that her tricuspid valve was un-fixable and that the right ventricle was not strong enough to function correctly. In fact, it would have been dangerous to even attempt to fix the valve, so they went down the route of making her heart into a 3 chamber heart. This was a direct answer to prayer b/c we were asking that it would be very clear which direction to go--and it was! Second, he informed us that it was a very good thing that her surgery was moved up to Monday b/c the state of her heart and lungs was getting progressively worse as time went on. So the surgery being bumped was definitely also a blessing! Third, he informed us that everything went well and that Kenzie tolerated the surgery and was doing just fine. As you can imagine, hearing all this was the BEST news in the whole wide world! We were beyond ELATED and more grateful than words can even begin to express!!! We can't even describe how incredible it was to know that God had brought Kenzie through this huge hurdle, and that He had led us to such a talented and gifted surgeon!! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Our surgeon let us know that the next 24 to 72 hours were extremely critical as Kenzie's body would be adapting to the extreme changes. There could be a lot of ups and downs with changes in stats occurring quite often. The team transported her upstairs to the bay area of the CICU and spent the next 4 hours getting her set up and settled. We finally were able to see her at about 12:30am, which was certainly the most wonderful thing ever to be reunited with our little angel!

We spent the night there with her taking turns sitting with her, and praise to God her stats remained stable all throughout the night and through the next day! She never once dropped or got to a place where there was need for big concern! Not that this time period was easy or without stress, but she certainly pulled through beautifully!

She is now on the road to recovery, on which there are still a ton of unknowns. Although her first surgery is over (she will have to have two more open heart surgeries--one at 6 months and one at about age 2), she still has a long road of making sure her heart is functioning properly and able to sustain life. We are praying first that her heart recovers and adapts to pump properly. There are also several steps that she has to go through to recover from this first surgery. The first step is getting rid of all the fluid build-up from surgery, and thankfully God has already begun to take care of this! She was so puffy to the point of being unrecognizable, but just since today she's been dropping fluid wonderfully which is awesome! Once her fluid drops enough they can close her chest (it is currently open b/c of the swelling). We're praying that fluid continues to drop at a rapid rate to allow the doctors to sew her up soon! Secondly, she has a temporary pacemaker which is beating her heart for her. This is common for post-heart surgery, and eventually they will attempt to turn it off. The prayer is that her heart continues with the correct beat, and that she doesn't require a permanent pacemaker. Today they turned the pacemaker down  for a bit and they were pleased with her heart's reaction. YAY! :) The next steps include weaning her off the ventilator, teaching her to eat, and then we can GO HOME!!!!

This will be a process but we're hoping for a speedy recovery so that we can take her home in approximately 3 to 4 weeks! As always, we are BEYOND grateful for your prayers, love, and support! We know that God is hearing her name called out from friends and family and has been watching over our sweet babygirl! We will continue to update as time progresses!!