Matters of the Heart

Laura before surgery-before "happy juice"

Laura before surgery-after "happy juice!"

It's been a rough 6 days, but I can say that Laura no longer has a hole in her heart. Laura had the Device Closure Procedure Thursday, February 16th. The surgery was a success, but she has had a few other complications along the way which has made this procedure not quite as easy as everyone said it should be. She had some premature heartbeats and fluttering, which is not the best feeling after knowing that there is a foreign object in your heart. Plus the scope they put down her throat in order to take the photo of the hole before they placed the device really irritated her esophagus and made her chest feel very heavy. They sent us to the emergency room Saturday night because of that to make sure that the device didn't hadn't become dislodged. Fortunately her heart was fine, she was just having more pain than normal from the scope. They gave her some meds to numb her esophagus and that helped. Sunday evening she broke out in a rash all over the outsides of her thighs and lower abdomen, so I took her to the doctor today and she had a delayed allergic reaction to the adhesive that was on the drape they used to cover her. They gave her some steroid cream, plus they gave her an antibiotic because she has a sinus infection on top of everything else! The doctor said she really needed to gain some more strength before going back to school. Friday when we left the hospital the surgeon said she'd be ready to go back Tuesday. Now she'll be lucky to go back Thursday!  Through all of this, I'm thankful that her heart is now repaired! The device is about the size of a quarter.  Her hole turned out to be about the size of a nickel. We might not have ever known there was a hole in her heart if she didn't have H1N1 and pneumonia a couple years ago. You'd never think that something like that was a blessing in disguise! That just goes to show that we need to praise God in all circumstances, because He is always in control! And right now I'm very thankful that because Laura was so sick two years ago, that our wonderful nurse practioner heard that murmer in Laura's heart that noone had ever heard before!!!  Thank you Lord for taking care of my sweet Laura <3