We’re now just over 10 days past surgery, and 5 full days of being home. Judah is doing well, recovering from surgery, and trying to bounce back faster than he should be. It’s tough to keep a 6 year old down, and Judah, while he does enjoy a couple of days of just staying at home watching movies and playing with his toys, is also a kid who needs to be challenged and occupied. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2018
11/21/18 – Home again and giving Thanks
It is absolutely amazing to think that just 5 days after his 3rd open heart surgery, Judah has returned home, and he is in great spirits. After several more check ins this morning from the cardiology and surgical teams, and the first peek under and changing of his chest incision dressing/bandages, the doctors felt confident in sending Judah home. We never could have imagined a turnaround from surgery to discharge being this fast, but Judah again and again proves to be brave, strong, and a real fighter. The next few weeks will still be filled with limited exertion, very limited activity, and extremely limited outside world exposure due to him being a major infection risk, but we’re willing to take it slow and give him all the time he needs to fully heal. Thank you all again, and we are eternally grateful for the thoughts, prayers, love, and even gifts and cards from so many of you. Updates will be a bit less frequent now that we are home, but we will continue to post and keep everyone updated as our road to recovery, and eventually regular life, keeps on trucking along.
All our love
J-N-J
11/19/18 – Bumps in the road
There are always a few setbacks and bumps along the road to recovery. After a weekend of doctors telling us how great Judah was doing and how they are pushing to get us home Monday/today, the doctors all got together this morning, took another look at his heart history and his most recent test results from yesterday, and decided that due to some recent arrhythmia and heart irregularities, they do want to put him back on an anti-arrhythmic medicine, one we had come off of about 2 years ago. This medication will require close supervision for the first several days, so we have extended our stay in the hospital for at least another 2-3 days. While we’re here the doctors will continue to watch his lungs, heart, and continue to provide close care while he is still in the early stages of healing and recovery. Otherwise Judah remains pretty low energy, spends most of his time putting his puzzles together, coloring, cuddling with mommy and daddy, and mainly resting.
Though not the news we wanted to hear (that we would be going home today) this extended stay is much more in line with what we expected. A few additional pokes and procedures yesterday and today have been necessary, and will likely continue for a few more days. With any luck we’ll be home right around Thanksgiving, but home or in the hospital, our family is always together, and the healing continues.
11/18/18 – Hitting the fast lane
After a night of restlessness, pokes from nurses and doctors, discomfort, and an xray showing some fluid in the lungs, as the day went on things really turned around for Judah, and his recovery hit the fast lane. His cardiology team is pleased with how he is doing today (aside from the fluid in the lungs), and assuming his x-ray in the morning and overnight goes well, they will try to discharge us from the hospital to head home very soon, possibly as soon as Monday/tomorrow! Continue reading
11/17/18 Road to recovery
Pain management was the story of the night for Judah, keeping him comfortable despite a steady stream of doctors and nurses coming to check on him. But after making it through that first night, and only waking up about every 2 hours to ask for more medicine and ask where daddy was (mommy took the first night sleepover while daddy went home), today has been a lot better. Judah is awake and fully aware today, and wants nothing more than to get out of bed. Continue reading
11/16/18 Surgery day – all done
Surgery is complete. Judah did fantastically today. His amazing team said everything went very smoothly, with the main part – the conduit replacement procedure taking about 3 hours. Judah went on and came off intubation and heart/lung bypass without issue, and they were able to implant a 16mm homograft conduit to replace his 10mm conduit placed when he was just 6 months old.
The plan for tonight is to rest, and manage his pain. Although he still has a few IVs, a central line, plenty of drainage tubes and more, he is sleeping comfortably and looks great. Tomorrow we will begin our recovery for real, and continued pain management as he starts to wake up a bit through the night and morning.
We honestly and truly appreciate all the love, support, prayers, and good vibes sent our way today. We definitely felt the love, and know Judah did too. More to come as we rest and begin to heal in the coming days.
All our love
J-N-J
11/16/18 Surgery Day – update 1
Today is the day. At about 1pm today Judah was taken back for his 3rd open heart surgery. Stay tuned for updates as we hear from the surgical and cardiac teams, but likely not much news for many hours. The surgery itself will take 4 hours or more, not including the pre-op and post-op steps, so it will likely be at least 6 hours+ before we get to see Judah again when he makes it to a recovery room. We feel all of your thoughts, prayers, and love, and it gives us strength.
J-N-J
11/14/18 Growing up fast, and a big day ahead
Hello to the friends, family, and faithful followers of JudahK. It has been a while since our last update, and in this time Judah has made leaps and bounds, grown tremendously, and continues to amaze everyone. Life has not been without its ups and downs, and the time for major procedures has come back around, but first, an update from our last 2 years. Continue reading