Open Heart Surgery

Well, I promised I would update this like a week ago, but we have been a little busy. The CT scan on Friday was postponed, instead she had an XRAY with contrast on Monday. The contrast was the first thing Marley has gotten to have by mouth since her gtube placement, and she loved drinking a half ounce of chalk with a splash of formula! The XRAY showed Marley had a vein obstructing her bronchus, which was collapsing her left lung. Open heart surgery was the doctor's solution to correct it, the next question was when? So, on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. Dr. Barth came in to tell us Marley's surgery would be the next day at noon.

Dr. Barth told us the outcome of Marley having surgery right now looked very poor, and the risk of Marley not making it was very high. I have mentioned before Marley has very high pulmonary hypertension, but I have never mentioned how high. Marley's lungs receive a 7:1 blood flow compared to most people who get 1:1, which means Marley's lungs get seven times the amount of blood rushing through them than the rest of her body. This is one of the reasons it is so difficult to intubate Marley and to operate because the risk of pulmonary crisis is so high, it is almost inevitable. Dr. Barth mentioned her other risks such as not being able to come off the bypass machine, not being able to be on the bypass machine, infection, and several other terrible outcomes. So after listening to Dr. Barth tell me all the ways my baby could die, she explained they do not think Marley will have a good outcome from this surgery, and did not want to paint a false rosey picture for us, but she must have the surgery to repair her lungs.

The day of her surgery Brian and I were nervous wrecks, along with our parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and friends that were there with us. But, for some reason we both felt better about this surgery than we had about any of her other ones, we had a peace about it. Brother Kelvin led us in prayer for Marley, and together we agreed with God that our Marley Moo would be fine. Marley smiled and played all morning and was in such a good mood. The surgery nurses came to get Marley at about 12:30 and we all followed Marley to the surgery area. Brian and I kissed her one more time and told her to be strong, and we would be waiting on her. Marley of course had her doll with her that has accompanied her to all her surgeries.

At about 1:45 the surgery nurse called to let us know they had put all of Marley's IV lines in, and they were about to put her on bypass. She then called again in about thirty minutes to let us know Marley was doing well and on bypass. Well, about five minutes later our nurse from the PICU (his name is David), came in to tell us Marley had a vein that they were not counting on being where it was, and they had to take her off the bypass machine. He then told us Marley is now being cooled down to 22 degrees Celsius, and they are stopping her heart, she is considered in circulatory arrest. Once they moved the vein they could warm her back up and put her back on bypass. He warned us that Marley would come back very sick, if she came back at all. We were all very upset, and Brother Kelvin again led us in prayer for our Marley.

We waited and waited to find out more news, and they called about an hour later to let us know they got Marley back on bypass, but didn't know if she would come off easily or at all. Well about another hour later they said Marley's surgey was almost finished and the doctors would be coming to talk to us. We waited for Marley in the hallway. We could see her before they took her back to the picu. When the doctors finally came down the hallway with Marley they all had shocked looks on their faces, and only her heart surgeon was smiling. It scared us so much.

We got to look at Marley for about ten seconds while they were pushing her through the hall and she looked so pink we could not believe it. We met her heart surgeons in the waiting room, and they explained that Marley was in circulatory arrest for 51 minutes, and they had to basically reroute a lot of veins and divide and re-plumb one of them. They then went on to say, some how this baby came off the bypass with no problems. We all laughed and said, "some how, huh"? Our surgeons are Christians and give all the glory to God, and they told us before the surgery they depend on him to guide their hands. Well, they had to depend on him a lot during Marley's surgery.

Marley is now recovering very well, and surprising all her doctors. The doctors all come in with smiles on their faces, so proud that Marley is doing so well. One doctor even said, "this is the pinkest baby I have ever seen"! Marley still has a long road to recovery in front of her. Her chest is still open, she has an external pacemaker to keep her heart rate up, and her right leg has weaker pulses than her left. So please pray for Marley's recovery, that she does not have to get an internal pacemaker, her chest is closed easily, and her leg makes a full recovery too!

I have said it many times, but Marley is a miracle and God has big plans for this baby. She is here for a reason and we believe she is going to do great things. She is the strongest person I have ever met, and I am so proud that she is my daughter. God is the ultimate healer and I believe he has his arms wrapped around Marley.