I say procedure because it is not a surgery, thank goodness-no cutting her open! Its called "Cardiac Catheterization with deployment of ASD closure device". In short, the doctor inserts a little device through the groin attached to a thin wire. The doctor runs it up through the vein till he gets it where he wants it in the heart. It seems crazy how the device would close up the heart and actually stick in there without coming undone, but it does! That's my layman's explanation. You can google this to get a better idea.
Elisa's procedure was set up for Monday, Sept. 29th at Children's Memorial Hermann. A couple days before we went to get her blood drawn and talk to the anesthesiologist (who happened to be LDS). She was such a good girl getting her blood drawn. She barely flinched. Gabe was more worried about it than she was! After, we went to the Children's Museum because I got cheap tickets from Groupon and it was right around the corner. The kids had so so much fun we spent as much time as we could there, I wanted to leave before we hit the horrible Houston rush hour traffic. It was a neat place for kids. I would like to take them back there someday in the future.
Elisa was such a good girl during before and after procedure. She had no choice during, she was under anesthesia. It felt like forever waiting for them to finish but it did eventually finish. I was so proud of her for being such a good girl through the whole ordeal. The doctor (Dr. Rao) said everything went smoothly. We went in to see Elisa after and she looked so pale. I wouldn't be surprised if she bleed plenty in her groin wounds. She came out with a different gown and those were some big holes in her groin! I can still see them, 3 months later. Thankfully, Elisa wasn't in much pain, just her throat bothered her because of the tube they stuck down her throat for the anesthesia. Also her right leg was on a splint and that bothered her a little too. She ate pretty well when she woke up, no wonder considering she didn't have anything to eat since 6 am and her procedure wasn't finished till 10 hours or so later. I thought she would be knocked out for awhile, but she tried to wake up as soon as she could. And in typical Elisa fashion, wouldn't go to sleep till 10 pm or so.
Erik went home to get Gabe (my friend Dana picked in up from school and watched him for us) and I stayed at the hospital all night with Elisa. Yeah, as you can guess, I got basically no sleep. The couch-bed was uncomfortable and nurses were in and out all night ugh. I'm not sure how much sleep Elisa got.
But whatever amount she got, she was back to her regular silly self in the morning. She was so happy to get the splint off her leg. She kept asking to have her bandage off her groin, but when the nurses came in to take it off, she cried and refused to let them take it off. So I had to hold her and give her a sucker while they did. Her and I ate a little breakfast in the morning and even went to a music group in the hospital for a bit and colored with crayons afterward. Then we went back to our room. Someone else came in our room and did another ultrasound of her heart. Elisa promptly fell asleep, just in time for Erik to finally get there. She got her flu shot when she woke up and then got fed some doughnut holes daddy brought for her. We finally got discharged after waiting around for way too long. I was so tired that evening so it was nice to have a friend bring dinner by!
Elisa has been doing great ever since! She's been on aspirin ever since and had to miss out on the playground in preschool for a couple of weeks, but other than that, nothing notable other than a couple scars in her groin.
More waiting...
Great pictures! I'm glad Elisa did so well! Looks like they had fun doing all the activities at the Children's Museum!
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