URGENT!!!!!!!!! NOAH IS BEING CUT OPEN!!!!!!!!!! WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. HIS HEARTRATE DROPPED AND BP DROPPED. THEY WERE DOING COMPRESSIONS. PLEASE PRAY!

UPDATE: THEY HAVE CUT HIM OPEN RIGHT THERE IN HIS ROOM. THEY ARE PUTTING HIM ON THE ECMO MACHINE (basically bypass) WE STILL DO NOT WHAT CAUSED HIM TO GO INTO DISSTRESS.


UPDATE: One person is doing compressions directly on his heart, one is bagging him to give him O2 to his body and his brain, and Dr. Mitchel is hooking up the canulas from the ECMO to his heart. **I am udating my status for now. when everything is done, I will do one big update on the blog** Please share this info.

UPDATE: One person is doing compressions directly on his heart, one is bagging him to give him O2 to his body and his brain, and Dr. Mitchel is hooking up the canulas from the ECMO to his heart. **I am udating my status for now. when everything is done, I will do one big update on the blog** Please share this info. ALSO: They will not know how his brain was effected until a day or 2 from now. So please pray that we still have the same Noah when he is healed!

UPDATE: Noah is now on ECMO, and is stabilized. The ECMO is doing most of the pumping, allowing his heart to relax, and they have added a pacer to establish the proper rhythm so that the muscle gets used to contracting. Noah received compressions and bagging for over an hour. Because of this, there is a risk of stroke and organ deprivation. They are doing an echo now to confirm the VSD is still intact, and will do tests tomorrow to verify the brain function. We wont know for certain until Noah wakes up whether brain function is ok, but Dr. Mitchell spoke with us, and was extremely optimistic about Noah's prognosis. Please pray that Noah's brain and organs are ok. We are belieiving that God wants Noah to tell us his story some day! Tonight there will be a nurse in the room constantly to monitor Noah's condition, and there will be a constant rotation of techs for the ECMO machine until he is off it. Dr. Mitchell's opinion was that when they were doing suction to clear Noah's lungs the new pulmonary artery clamped down, making the back pressure on his right ventricle very high. Since up to this point the right ventricle has not had to function on its own (due to the VSD) it was a shock, and the RV slowed and lost pressure.

We just had a scare about 30 minutes ago. After they had turned off his paralytic, his temperature started climbing, his heart rate climbed, and his blood pressure started dropping. They a whole bunch of doctors came rushing in. They had restarted the paralytic and gave him a bolus of a blood product to help lower his heart rate which was in the 190's. They stood around him to watch how his numbers reacted. His blood pressure kept falling (40s/30s) and his heart rate started dropping quickly. A crash cart was brought in and a whole lot of other doctors and nurses. They had to do chest compressions for about 45 seconds. They turned his milrinon (a heart function med) back up and then he became stable again. They are keeping a close watch on him today. They are letting him recover from this traumatic episode and will not be weening anything today, so he is back to his original med settings and his cooling blanket has been turned back on. If he does good over night, they may possible turn off his paralytic tomorrow. Please continue to pray for Noah's recovery. Even though Noah did extremely well during his surgery, his repair was very complicated and is going to need more time to recover. Needless to say, Aaron and I will not be venturing out anytime soon. Noah is proving, once again, that he likes to do things on his own timing and does not like to be pushed.

Noah is doing great! He had a little bleeding last night when he came back from surgery... there are some small residual holes around the VSD patch that will eventually close on their own in a couple of days. The bleeding has slowed down and is starting to clear up. I am amazed at how well he looks this morning... For being in the OR for 12 hours yesterday, he should be VERY swollen, but he is not. Just a little puffy is all. They have already turned off his paralytic drip so by the end of today he should be able to move a little bit. He is on all the heart function meds until they are for certain his heart is doing well on its own. He has a fever but that is expected so they are giving him Tylenol and they have him on a cooling blanket.
Aaron and I did not go to sleep until around 1am and then had to wake up at 4am for x-ray. We are still tired and are trying to sleep but it is hard to. The hospital air is so dry that both Aaron and I woke up with dry lungs. We are going to go to the mall later after lunch to go to Build-A-Bear to make Noah the Heart Patch Bear! We are going to call him patches and give him a "stuff-day" of November 4, 2010! :)

We just got to kiss Noah!! He was on his way to his ICU room and them stopped for a quick second so we could catch a glimpse of him. He looks GREAT!!!! Now they are hooking him up to his room monitors and ventilation machines so it will be another hour before we can go back to his room to settle for the night.

The pexy is done. The heart is done. Heart is beating on its own. Chest is CLOSED! No pacemakers. A little bit of bleeding that should seal in a couple days. He is being monitored on the OR still. He is stable! Surgery is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise God!!!!! 12 hours in the OR so far! But my baby is strong!!!! Please continue to pray for his recovery. Noah is amazing his doctors!!!

Sorry this update is a little late, I had went to art therapy for an hour while Aaron continued to wait for updates from the nurse.

5:30pm: The echo showed some bleeding so they are getting it under control. He is off bypass and no heart-block (where the electrical system of the heart is not functioning correctly causing the upper and lower chambers of the heart to beat at their own rhythms). They are warming his body.

6:30pm: The bleeding is under control and they are starting the last broncoscopy to look at the airways. Noah is stable and doing very well!

The heart repair is done! He is still on the bypass but being warmed up and then they will start his heart and do an echo to make sure there are no leaks or and additional holes they need to patch. Everything has gone super smooth so far! A BIG answer to our prayers!!!! Dr. Mitchel even said that his trachea malasia was not as bad as they were expecting! Another answered prayer!!!! So now we are waiting to hear back after the echo is done if they will need to go back in the heart to make any adjustments. Then if he is not too swollen, they will re-do the airway pexy.

I am filled with JOY!!! God is in this place and He is working through the surgeons and nurses. Thank you Jesus, for giving Dr. Mitchel the talent and knowledge to perform such a complex surgery!

Stay tuned!! :D