Surgery #7 Update

So surgery went well, and they're settling Evanna back onto the unit. Dr. Rebeyka was quite shocked at how little the clot was, and that such a little thing was the cause of so much trouble. He actually revealed this was the first time he has ever used a mechanical pulmonary valve, and I think he is very disappointed in all the complications that came from it. He's going to a conference in San Diego next week, and one of the speakers will actually be speaking on this particular valve, so I'm sure he'll have a few words to say on the subject lol.

Before we talked to Dr. Rebeyka this morning, we thought he was going to use a pig valve as a replacement, but when we met with him before surgery, he stated that he was actually going to use a cow valve instead, as it's much more durable. Nick was like "well, what are we going to call her? We obviously can't call her our little piglet", Dr. Rebeyka then replied and said "well, how about little moo-moo?" So, added on the long list of nicknames that we already call Evanna (goobers, doobie, etc), we will now be adding "little moo-moo".

While Evanna was in surgery, Nick and I walked down to the closest Chapters and bought her some more books (thanks Kaylea for the gift card). We made sure one of the books was about cows, and we've been wanting to buy "What Does The Fox Say?", so we got that one too.  We've had many books sent/given to us over the past few months, so Miss Evanna is going to have quite the beautiful collection when we go home.

When we got back from our walk, Dr. Rebeyka came and found us and we discussed what he found within that mechanical valve (the teeny tiny clot). He was just waiting for the bleeding to subside before re-pexing her aorta and conduit forward, and would come update us again. A little while later, he came out and said that her airway looked good, as they did a bronchoscopy while performing the pexy, and it looked like it was stronger than before and it just needs a little more time to get stronger yet.

We are definitely relieved that everything went very well and smoothly. When you think about it, it's quite amazing how much Evanna's little body has endured in such a short period of time.  I really hope this is the last surgery for a long time, but if I've learned anything, it's that nothing is for certain. I sincerely hope this recovery will go as quick and smoothly as possible, so we can begin to work towards discharge (again).

Thank you for you're continued love and support,

xo The Irvine Family