Grace came out of surgery Friday afternoon. Everything about the pacemaker surgery went extremely well. We did not have access to the internet until we got back to the Ronald McDonald House early this morning.
We were given some pretty dire warnings about what could go wrong with the pacing surgery; so far, none of those warnings have surfaced. But, just as Grace has done before, she surprised us with a completely new, unrelated problem.
While putting the pacemaker in, the doctor noticed her right atrium was in 'flutter'. All of her monitoring could not pick it up. Basically, it means that Grace's right atrium was still beating in pace with the rest of her heart (so everything looked normal); but, in addition to the regular pulse it was beating a second time inbetween the regular beats. This is something that is easy to correct by shocking the heart to pump even faster and it will reset itself to the regular beat.
However, with Grace's condition and just coming out of surgery they were extra careful and performed an echocardiagram to make sure that everything was okay. It was during this that they found blood clots in both her right and left atrium.
So, here is the course of action for Grace:
- give her a few days to recover from the surgery
- get her on medication to resolve the blood clot issue (they started this slowly last night)
- shock her heart back to a normal pace
All in all, she looks great and is doing as well as can be expected. I've said it before - she truly is a fighter!
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2 comments:
Dave and Jackie-
You have been in my constant prayers as well as the prayers of so many in our church.
On Thursday 2/22 Julianna's class was on a field trip at the Marin Headlands. We could see UCSF from the lighthouse area and I took many pictures back at the city as our small group stopped to say prayers for Grace. On the bus ride home just as we passed Judah on 19th Ave. Julianna's teacher made all the students and adults stop and say a prayer. All the parent helpers were crying by the end of it!
Over the weekend I was down at the Cathedral Basillica in San Jose. Joy asked about you and wanted you to know that you are in her prayers as well.
Our parish prayed for Grace on Sunday and you continue to be in the prayers of so many!
We love and miss you. We've been avoiding calling you since I know you are overwhelmed and probably getting too many clals but then I saw your post that said phone calls help. We will call more often!
Much love, Deb
Dear Truhe Family - we have not met, but Larry is my contractor - also Debbie is married to my son-in-law's college chum (Joe Hernandez). I have been praying for Gracie and so happy to hear she is doing better. Will continue to pray for all of you and hope you get your "happy ending". Best Wishes, Jeanne Ahearn
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