He's done!

Jack is out of surgery. We just finished talking with the surgeon who said that everything went as good as it could. The repair itself was straightforward with no complications, and they didn't have any problem with excessive swelling (can sometimes keep them from being able to totally close up the incision). Right now the anesthesiologist is sitting with him to try to get his breathing tube out before he leaves the operating room. They prefer to do this as soon as possible, but will do it later as needed. Dr. Heinle even said they may be getting him out of bed as early as tomorrow. We should get to see him in the Cardio-Vascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) in about an hour.

Thank you for all your prayers... we couldn't have asked for it to go any better than it did. Please keep lifting Jack up. He will be uncomfortable and probably very crabby when he wakes up this evening, so please pray that we can regulate his pain appropriately to keep him as comfortable as possible. Hopefully tomorrow morning he will be in a good mood and ready to move around and eat something. Another prayer request: he will be on some fluid restriction for the next day or so, and he's very much a juice drinker. So please pray that thirst won't be an issue. We so appreciate all of you.

Surgery Update

We just got our first update from the surgical staff. At this point he is not yet on the heart/lung bypass machine. The trickiest part of this surgery is simply getting through all the layers of scar tissue from his previous surgeries. That's been done, and he should be on the bypass machine with the actual repairs being done. Josh and I just found out that we have a room at the Ronald McDonald House in the hospital for tonight, which is fantastic. That gives us a place to sleep with a real bed and our own shower, but within minutes of Jack in the CVICU. Elijah came up to the hospital at lunch time today with Josh's parents and had a good time playing and getting lots of undivided attention from us and his grandparents.
We're giving thanks right now that Dr. Heinle has made it through the most difficult part, that Jack's having no problems so far, and that Elijah has had a good day. Please continue praying for ease in the surgery, for our patience and trust in God, and that no complications develop.

Jack is in Surgery

Jack was taken back to the operating room at around noon. He did very well this morning... didn't seem to be anxious or hungry. He was happy to watch PBS Kids in his hospital bed while we waited for the surgeon to finish his first case. He did have to take off his Super Why costume eventually and wear his "hospital pajamas" instead, which he was okay with. We did get one last shot in his mask before he went back. The anesthesia team gave him some oral medication to make him sleepy first, so he was already slurring his words and saying silly things before we even kissed him goodbye. They will be coming to the waiting room every two hours to give us updates, so we'll be sure to post as we hear how he's doing. So far everything is going great.

Please be praying for Dr. Heinle, his heart surgeon, and Dr. Andropoulos, his anesthesiologist, that they would be attentive, skilled, and aware. Please pray for the nurses as well - I just didn't catch all their names.

Super Why's trip to the hospital

Jack's pre-op appointment today was a little long but overall went well. My mom made him a Super Why costume that he just HAD to wear to the hospital today, so of course he totally charmed all the nurses... not to mention everyone who saw him in the hallways and elevators. Today Jack had a chest x-ray and an EKG, met with anesthesia and cardiology, got his ears and throat looked at several times, and had blood drawn. He was unenthusiastic about getting his blood pressure checked, but he actually did surprisingly well with the needle stick. He also had a teaching time with the Child-Life Specialist. She talked to him, using a doll, about what would happen tomorrow and what things he would see (tubes, wires, bandages) when he wakes up. He was mainly interested in whether he would get red, sparkly shoes like the doll's shoes along with the tubes and stitches.

Tomorrow Jack will be the second surgery of the day. We have to be there at 9:30 a.m., so the surgery will follow after that. We will post another update on here after they take him back to surgery so that you guys can be praying. We really appreciate all the help, encouragement, prayers, and support that we've received from those of you here and farther off. It is so good to hear about all the people lifting Jack up. Josh and I will be staying at the hospital tomorrow night, and we're so blessed to have all four grandparents here to stay with Elijah and take care of him so that we can focus our attention on Jack right now.

Please pray tonight that everyone gets a good night of sleep, that Jack isn't bothered by hunger and thirst tomorrow morning (no food after midnight; clear liquids until 7:30 a.m.), and that no more urgent cases arise overnight, which could result in bumping Jack to a later time or day.

A Baby on the Way

I realized that I don't update my blog enough. I think that I've said that before. I noticed that not only did I make no comment on Elijah's first birthday (in March), but I've also failed to mention that we're having another baby. In about 9 weeks. So if you don't already know this news, then I definitely don't keep in good enough touch with you. Give me a call sometime. Or get a Facebook account already.

Here are the pertinent details.
We're having a girl. That's exciting.
She's due on October 18th.
Her full name is Avery Noel Turner.
And here are some pictures.

Week of Appointments

This will be a busy week for us, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Tomorrow should be a fairly normal day - other than Josh and I getting to go see Harry Potter in the evening (hooray!). I'm sure that I'll be occupied with trying to get laundry done and the house clean-ish, in anticipation of the rest of the week's busyness. On Tuesday, I will head to Texas Children's in the afternoon for a fetal echocardiogram. My doctor just wants to make sure that Avery's heart looks 100% perfect. We're basically red-flagged now for extra attention to cardiac anomalies, due to Jack's history. We don't have any reason at this point to think there will be anything out of the ordinary. On Wednesday, I'll be heading back to TCH in the afternoon, this time with Josh and Jack, heading to a consultation and examination with Jack's surgical team. Then Thursday is my regular monthly OB check-up, including the glucose screening test.
None of these appointments would really be a big deal on their own, but when they're all stuck into back-to-back days it's enough to make me feel a little crazy. It will probably be a week with a lot of take-out. I'm so blessed to have some fantastic friends down here who are going to help me out with the kids. But neither of the boys are at all used to heading to a different friend's house everyday and being left there at naptime without Mommy. Elijah especially will be stretched, with three days in a row in new places. So I'm definitely praying that he will adjust well, sleep well, play well, eat well... just all those nice things so that my friends don't refuse when I have to ask for babysitting help again.
Thank you again for all your prayers. I don't think you realize how much they matter to us everyday as we anticipate Jack's surgery again. I just imagine how stressed and nervous and anxious we would feel without so many people lifting us up each day.

Surgery is scheduled.

I'm sorry to all of you who check on this blog regularly. I've been awful about posting lately. But since our last post, we've gotten Jack's open-heart surgery on the calendar. It is scheduled for August 25th at Texas Children's Hospital. The average hospital stay after this surgery is 7-10 days. We will be heading to TCH next week for a surgical consultation where we should get a lot more information about his surgery and recovery issues. I'll try to post again after that meeting. Thank y'all for your thoughts and prayers and help.