Evie's Next Surgery (and Peek-a-boo!)

Yesterday we took Evie to see her cardiologist. Earlier in the week, we had been given a surgery date of February 12... but when we first got to the doctor's office yesterday, her pulse-ox (i.e., her oxygen saturation level) was about 65. That is really low! (The last time she visited the doctor with a level that low, the doctor sent me to the ER with her and she was admitted.)

The nurse kept checking her pulse-ox, and as Evie calmed down (she was crying at first) her stats rose to 75 and her color got much "pinker." Luckily, no trips to the ER, but her doctor was concerned enough to move up her surgery date to February 5th, and maybe even sooner if the hospital has an opening.

The surgery will be another unifocalization procedure (check out these previous two blog entries for a refresher on unifocalization, MAPCAs, and an explanation of Evie's heart defect). There is one MAPCA remaining in her body, and her surgeon will use a shunt to detach that MAPCA from her aorta and attach it to the existing shunt on the right side of her body. This will help lower the pressure of the blood flow to her lungs. This is necessary in order for her to (hopefully) be a candidate for the next surgery (The "Glenn" surgery, the one we thought she would be having now).

Her surgeon will also put in a stent to fix one area of an artery on her right side that has narrowed quite a bit and is restricting blood flow.

While he is working on her, he may also change her existing shunts to larger ones, if needed. The shunts do not grow with her, so they may need to be replaced over time.

Last weekend Grandpa and Nana Cermak were over and Evie started playing peek-a-boo with Nana! She's always giggled at others doing peek-a-boo, but has never done it herself until now.