Kate had her surgery to replace the ECMO (ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) device with the RVAD (Right Ventricular Assist Device). ECMO was providing a full heart-lung bypass capability while RVAD is only assisting the right-side of her heart. Surgery went well. Kate’s lungs are working great. The left-side of her new heart is performing great. Her …
Continue reading “Successful Surgery – Taking Forward Steps”
Kate’s showing improvement. Her new heart is beating on its own. Originally, they had a pacemaker working pretty aggressively to make sure everything was behaving as needed. Today they dialed it back, and Kate’s heart is beating almost fully on its own. She is definitely showing signs of being herself, responding purposely to stimuli and …
Kate got a new heart yesterday! In talking to the team, it’s a very strong, healthy heart. It was quite the roller-coaster of a day. Kate is still highly sedated. She has chest tubes and her sternum has yet to be closed up from surgery. She’s on a respirator and still on ECMO to help …
Kate is getting a heart! I’m posting this as a placeholder. Surgery is planned to start around 8am tomorrow, Sunday the 13th. I will be posting updates here throughout the day. Surgery is planned to start around 8am. The latest updates are at the bottom. Sunday December 13th 9:45am Update Wow. What a morning so …
We thought it was about time for an update. Things have calmed down since our last update. No real change on the Hospital’s side but we’ve found more ways to deal with what the hospital throws at us. We are now more than 90 days into our stay. More than three months. Kate has been …
This has been a tough week (or two). There is no progress on Kate’s position on the list. Still at #3, the same spot we were at at the end of week 1 of our stay. We’ve been in the hospital for over 70 days and in many respects, it feels like we are fighting …
It’s been a while since our last update and we thought it was time to share our status. We have been in the hospital for 7 weeks now as of today. This is by-far Kate’s longest hospitalization yet. That said, things are going reasonably, all things considered. Kate is still growing, learning and developing like …
A huge thank you is going out to everyone who is supporting us. There has been a lot of support from friends and family. People have come by and hung out in the park at Children’s to say hi, others have brought food, still others are helping with gift cards for food delivery services. Even …
Well we’re through our 2nd weekend at Children’s for this visit. It’s been an interesting week with a bunch of highs and lows. Earlier this week the hospital had a series of carts come around for “State Fair on Wheels”! Kate got some cotton candy, a “walking” chicken balloon, some finger paints and a caricature …
I’m writing this on Sunday as Kate takes her nap. We’ve been in for 48 hours now and are finally starting to catch our breath. It’s been a challenge for all three of us but we’re starting to see signs of a rhythm. Friday we spent some final moments making sure Kate had fun with …
