The Glenn

Wow, what a fitfull night it was. We were told yesterday that Mason was to be the first case today (Wednesday) for his surgery. We stayed with Mason most of the day yesterday and went to Ronald McDonald to rest for the night. We had asked what time we should be at the hospital in the morning and most people agreed about 6:30am. I woke up every hour and many times in between. The constant buzz of email coming in on Ernie's phone didn't help matters. Each time it buzzed I thought it was time to get up. I finally got up at 5:30 and got ready. We found Mason fast asleep on his stomach and freshly bathed for his surgery. The three of us enjoyed each others company for a couple of hours before he was taken up to surgery at 8:12 am. Dr. Jumba and Dr. Church, pediatric cardiology anesthesiologist's, wheeled him away.

Ernie and I waited in the parent lounge and snoozed off and on. We passed some of the time watching the construction workers caulk, cut JumboTex, and fit wire mesh outside the window. They were in no hurry, while we just couldn't wait to hear from Dr. Hanley. Around 1:30 we were informed Dr. Hanley would be coming out to speak to us. The feeling in my stomach was like a bunch of bees churning in their hive. When Dr. Hanley came in, he looked happy and left the door to the small waiting room open. This had to be a good sign and in fact it was. He told us that everything went well. Mason had his bi-directional Glenn and there was no need to do major work to his pulmonary artery. The shunt had been removed and the "tenting" that was observed resolved(layed flat) once the shunt was removed. He told us that he probed the pulmonary artery and it appeared all was fine-no narrowing. Little Mason did not have to go on heart-lung bypass (CPB)! We joined Mason on the floor approximately 50 minutes later, where we found him coming out of sedation. The nurse gave him morphine but it had virtually no effect on him. His sedative was increased and this helped make him comfortable. The majority of the day was spent weaning down his oxygen and medications for a quick extubation that evening. It was explained that patients do better after the Glenn if they are removed from the ventilator quickly. At approximately 8:10pm his breathing tube was removed and he was breathing on his own. Not happily, mind you. Although I don't know, it appears difficult to have to breathe on your own when you chest hurts and a machine has been trying to do it for you. It took some doses of pain Medication to help get Mason calm, which in turn helped him breathe better. This kid is so tough the morphine doesn't even phase him.

Dr. Maeda, the fellow, who cut Mason's aorta performed the initial chest opening again today. For several days after last Thursday he had been walking around with a rather sullen look. He often took time to console us, stopping by to check on us. I am sure he felt terrible over what occurred. When we all heard the results of the MRI were good news, it was like we all could breathe again. We have never felt any anger towards him and we genuinely like him a lot.

One of the anesthesiologists who took Mason in last Thursday stopped by the bedside to chat. He confided in us that the events that took place were very frightening. They did not hesitate to call for help and thank goodness everything worked out. He said it gave them all a good scare to say the least.

Overall, most people have been compassionate over what happened to Little Mason. So many have been happy to hear that he had made it through one more operation and have stopped by to say so. I did have a difficult moment when one of the NP's spoke to me yesterday and felt a need to go into CYA mode by pointing out that parents sign the consent form and hear about all the possible things that could happen but don't really think or understand that they could happen. This comment came after the current nurse Mason had was really being too aggressive in how she was handling him and I just about lost it. I had tears in my eyes and the NP came by to check on us, in turn we started talking about Mason's cardiac arrest event and I told her we didn't lack confidence but rather were a little afraid. She then proceeded to tell me that she had worked with Dr. Hanley and Dr. Reddy since 1992 and this had happened only about 3 other times-she said she may have added an extra to them. I expressed to her that Physician's Assistant Quong, had made it a point to explain how important it was to be careful at the chest opening, how this is what took so long and that we were disappointed that it happened then. She said, "But, we were careful." Well, obviously her careful and my careful are two different things. I really was upset that this had to be said. It took me most of the night to forget about it. Some people have foot in mouth disease at the worst time.

If all goes well, Mason may be moved to another less critical care floor tomorrow. Meanwhile, Ernie and I will go to RMH to get some rest and trust our nurse, Teagan, to take care of Mason tonight. We couldn't ask for a better nurse. Ernie leaves tomorrow, looks like we will be in the hospital for Christmas after all....