We've got a plan! The cardio team here met and decided that Penelope
needs to have her PDA closed tomorrow morning at 7:30. It will be the
same bedside surgery that Lydia had, the only difference is that they
will have an OR waiting just in case the closing of the PDA causes
complications with her possible coarctation. If they close the PDA and
see that her aorta is narrowing (by checking bloodpressures in her arms
and legs as well as an immediate echo) they will whisk her away to the
OR and do the coarct repair surgery despite her size. Right now, the
complications she's having because of the PDA are such that they cannot
wait until she reaches the ideal size for the coarct surgery. The risks
are higher for such a small baby but the risks of not doing the surgery
are even greater than that. So, this is the plan.
Jonathan
and I are, understandably, pretty nervous about this. It will be a
loooong hour's wait while they do the PDA surgery to see if she'll need
the coarct repair or not. They say that time flies when you're having
fun, maybe time will fly while we're praying our booties off! We would
like to ask you to be praying your booties off too! Please pray for Drs
Goldberg and Knott-Craig (the surgeons), Andrea (his nurse), and the
rest of the OR team that will be doing the surgery. Also, pray for
Robin and Amy (the girl's nurses), the neonatalogist, and the NICU
staff that will be caring for her after the surgery. Finally, pray for
our sweet Penny to have comfort and strength, to only have the PDA and
no coarctation, and if she does have to have the coarct repaired pray
that the Lord would protect her from any complications of the surgery.
On
a personal note, she's been put on NPO (no food in her tummy) until a
few days after the surgery. This means she'll be hungry and MAD about
it like Lydia was. Please pray that I'll handle it well. It's actually
a good sign if she gets hungry and mad, rather than lethargic. It just
makes it very difficult for us to watch her and not be able to help.
Thank you so much for your prayers as we face this next section of the NICU roller coaster.
Love, The Chus
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