Wednesday Morning

Shrav slept great last night after sitting up for a whole hour in a chair - just getting up and sitting made her oxygen levels jump up even more. This morning she has a slight temperature so they are sending blood/urine samples down to the lab. She looks great and drank chocolate milk earlier this morning, so it's possible she has a UTI.

The Team

Here is the team that performed Shrav's incredible, successful surgery yesterday - Dr. Hockmuth (in white) is her surgeon.  Dr. Merryman (right) is the anesthesiologist and Mr. Phelps (left) is the assisting PA with Dr. Hockmuth for surgery.  Our dream team!

Shrav's cardiologist, Dr. Mooradian (below) is the one who tells us when the time is right to do or not do things - he is the doctor who understands Shrav's heart the best.  We trust him - a lot!

Photos from Shrav

Here are Shrav and Buddy (the elf) right before heading to the Operating Room. Buddy appeared for a surprise visit on Sunday during Shrav's heart party.  Apparently Buddy had stolen a Barbie convertible and was racing to her party and was stopped by Officer Brian Johns.  Shrav talked Officer Johns out of giving Buddy his first speeding ticket.  He was so grateful about it that he insisted on accompanying Shrav to the O.R.

The Child Life Specialists made Shrav's transition to the PICU wonderfully easy, they made sure there were toys waiting for her at the foot of her bed.  Last night they made sure that I met the social worker who arranged for a room to sleep in at the Ronald McDonald Apartment, a very cool oasis for parents who need a rest.  Shrav is flanked by Lisa (left) and Amici (right) who show up every day to see how she's doing and answer questions she has.  Today they brought a cool Barbie with about four choices of outfits, so she will be extremely busy getting her new doll dressed up in a few days!!

Today she started to have some clear foods, so we've had a couple of slushies made with popsicles and Sierra Mist.  Yummm....

This morning I woke up around 4 a.m. and walked out to the car for something - on the way back the moon was hanging very low and was bright orange-yellow.  Very pretty......

Right now we're resting and Shrav is doing great.  Happy Fourth to Everyone!

Little Rock Star

Shrav is sleeping peacefully in the PICU. Her oxygen sats are in the 90's - I ran down to get something to eat, and when I got back she was watching Beauty and the Beast with her PICU nurse Ashley :)  They removed the ventilator at 5:30 pm - earning her Rock Star status on her floor.

 Dad, Sue, Dan, Stacey, Caleb and Nana were here all day waiting for updates...and a sweetheart named Debi Lydic stopped by from Valley Church...we have been surrounded by love and support.

The view from Shrav's PICU window is just right to see fireworks tomorrow night over the state capitol building.during/after Yankee Doodle Pops.

Hope you all have a safe, wonderful fourth of July!!

Happy News

Dr. Mooradian just came by, surgery is technically over! Things went well, the connections they needed to make were less complicated than expected...so very thankful!! Thank you Help-a-Heart for sending lunch to us here in the waiting area - your support is priceless to us. Will post again once she is all settled in the recovery. God is good!

Waiting

We are in the waiting room - Shrav went in around 8:00 and the surgery is in progress now. Dr. Mooradian stopped out to tell us things are going well and the nurse told us the incision was made at 9:04 a.m., so now we wait. Thank you for praying for our family and for the surgeons and for Shrav! Will post more updates soon.

Today

Yesterday we had a wonderful day....met grandparents for breakfast, went to church, and then had a wonderful hot dog party for Shravani.  Lots of people showed up, even Mrs. Jennings, Shrav's Kindergarten teacher last year.  Several other parents and kids from school, and of course family.  It was really crazy, and fun, and it was the perfect day for a water balloon fight with the hot hot hot weather.

Many thanks to Mom, Sheri, Stacey, Wendi and everyone who showed up (and cleaned up, too.)

In a few short hours we will be at the hospital. One mom was explaining to me at the Heart Auction how their surgeries were not planned, and therefore they didn't have time to prepare mentally or otherwise.  That made me realize how fortunate we are to have some degree of control over timing.

Two hours and fifteen minutes until the alarm goes off....going to get some sleep...