Recuperating from Surgery

I was amazed at how much it seemed like she wasn’t in much pain. One of the nurses told me that the little babies tend to bounce back really quickly. My 2 week old daughter had open heart surgery and all she needed was a little bit of pain medicine few days.

Getting back onto the story of Isabel’s birth. If you missed any of the previous posts you can check them out here:

I was amazed at how much it seemed like she wasn’t in much pain. One of the nurses told me that the little babies tend to bounce back really quickly. My 2 week old daughter had open heart surgery and all she needed was a little bit of pain medicine few days. Crazy…

A few days after the surgery, we were able to start holding Isabel again. Her heart block was still hanging around and the doctors and nurses where having a little trouble figuring out exactly what was going on. By the fifth day after surgery her heart beat was getting back to normal and the sixth day after the surgery they went ahead and removed the chest tubes and the pacemaker wires. It was nice to not have to worry about her possibly having to get an internal pacemaker and it was great to not have as many wires hooked up to her.

The next big milestone for Isabel is to get back to the amount she was eating before the surgery. She went for a few days getting all her nutrition from an IV and it is going to take a little bit of time before she is taking everything by mouth again. We had been working on it but it was going very slowly.

Once we knew that Isabel was in the clear after the surgery Jen and I decide that I should head back to Crested Butte. My parents would be coming into town in a few days and Jen’s mom had been watching Addison for over 2 weeks by herself. I was looking forward to getting back home to spend some time with Addison and have a night or two of sleep in my bed again.

Let’s Go To The Zoo – Pictures

We made it home to Crested Butte safely and now it is time to catch up on some sleep. Hope you enjoy the Zoo pictures. Tomorrow I will be getting back to Isabel’s Birth Series.

One of my favorite movie quotes of all time is in Jerry Maguire when the little boy asks to go to the Zoo. I can’t even talk about the Zoo without thinking about it. Well the good thing is that the Denver Zoo wasn’t closed today.

We made it home to Crested Butte safely and now it is time to catch up on some sleep. Hope you enjoy the Zoo pictures. Tomorrow I will be getting back to Isabel’s Birth Series.

Denver Cath Trip Pictures

Here are some pictures from the dive to Denver and today’s Catheterization. Everything went well, it was just a long and stressful day. Enjoy the pictures!

Here are some pictures from the dive to Denver and today’s Catheterization. There probably will not be another long post until we are back in Crested Butte. Driving home tomorrow after a trip to the Zoo! Everything went well today, it was just a long and stressful day. Enjoy!

Small Town Problems?

Today’s trip to Denver was uneventful which is always the goal. We got out of the house on time and made it to the hospital early enough to each lunch before Isabel’s G-Tube checkup.

Today’s trip to Denver was uneventful which is always the goal. We got out of the house on time and made it to the hospital early enough to each lunch before Isabel’s G-Tube checkup. It went well. Tomorrow is going to be the stressful day of this trip but hopefully there will be good news by the end.

I think I have been living in a small town for too long. We went out to eat at a chain restaurant for dinner and they had UFC or something like that on every TV. Now, don’t get me wrong I think it is fun to watch but my 3 year old daughter doesn’t need to watch that kind of stuff. It would be one thing if we were there late or even sitting in the bar but we sat down to eat at 6:30 at a table in the middle of the restaurant. I never complained to our waitress but looking back I wish I would have.

Am I out of line to think this is a little ridiculous?

Another Trip To Denver

We have been going to Denver almost monthly since Isabel was released form the hospital at the end of January. I think I could make the 5 hour drive blindfolded at this point.

It has been great being able to describe how I was feeling and what we were going through with Isabel’s birth. I also know it has been a little confusing since everything happened a few months ago but I am just now writing about them. To make things even more confusing for everybody today’s post is about something that is happening in the future.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving Crested Butte heading to Denver for a few doctors appointments for Isabel. We have been going to Denver almost monthly since Isabel was released form the hospital at the end of January. I think I could make the 5 hour drive blindfolded at this point. Denver is about 20 degrees warmer than it has been in Crested Butte so I am looking forward to taking a pair of shorts with me. Isabel and Addison do extremely well in the car and I am very thankful for that.

Tomorrow afternoon Isabel will have a checkup on her G-Tube and then Friday she will have her second Catheterization. This Cath. will let the doctors know how much her arteries have grown. This is important because it will give us a better idea on when the next surgery can be scheduled. The first surgery Isabel had back in January was to make sure there was blood going through the pulmonary arteries giving them the opportunity to grow. The next surgery will hopefully be the one that fixes her heart by closing the VSD and placing a new valve or conduit connecting the pulmonary artery to her heart.

They are planing on her staying the night in the hospital after the Catheterization. They also asked us to stay in town for at least 24 hours after the procedure to be closer to a hospital just incase something was to pop up. As long as everything goes well, we are planing on spending a few hours at the Zoo with both the girls while we are in Denver. Hopefully we will have some fun pictures to share next week.