updated HEART SURGERY recovery...OUR little angel ^X^

Sunday, July 21...Posted 22 hours ago 

Katie is begging for water b/c her diet and fluid intake has been extremely restricted--due to pleural effusion (fluid around the lungs)...still has a chest tube.The fluid loss remains a balancing act for the  doctors – get her “dried” up but keep her hydrated just enough to not cause other problems...having to eliminate ALL fat from her diet. No fat at all. Thank goodness for fat-free menus...she's been enoying fat-free grilled cheese sandwiches. she is enjoying fat-free soy milk. 

At home in the past, Katie only drinks water.  Her new diet – and her desperation – is resulting in  better eating and drinking of new products.  She's drinking all of her formula by mouth...not using her feeding  pump!!

She doesn’t seem to get happy at all, other than watching her Elmo videos. Thank  goodness that the hospital’s library has every single Elmo video. Please pray for  Katie’s pleural effusion to slow down and for her body to handle the changes. We  are thankful for all of the prayers coming Katie’s way!

 
As you can see from the following, my little 'great niece Katie' is in surgery as I type this post.

To all my blogging buddies, please lifT her precious name to our Lord for His presence, His guidance for the doctors, His continuing to hold this precious child in His hand as she is going through this procedure.

My heart is full for her and her Mommy and Daddy(my nephew).

Ya'll are such wonderful prayer warriors 
and I thank you in advance for lifting Katie 
to our Steadfast YAHWEH, Adonai, God-Head Three-In-One! 
Thank you, Jesus, for NEVER leaving us 
or forsaking US 
because YOU paid it ALL for us!
"copied from CarePages..."posted 20 minutes ago
On bypass now...Katie is now in surgery. She was taken back at 7:30 a.m. It took an hour and a half to get the lines in and on the ventilator. It took more than hour to cut through the scar tissue to get to her heart.She was officially started on bypass at 10:45 a.m.
We are waiting for the next update to see how she is doing. Surgery is expected to take four hours from when it started. Dr. K* met with us briefly before the surgery started.
Katie was in really good spirits this morning. She was really active, talkative and fighting the sleepy meds. She finally fell asleep, but then woke up when they started to wheel her to the OR. She is a tough little fighter!!
Please keep those prayers coming!!
**UPDATE**2:35pm   Posted 57 minutes agokatie came out of surgery at 1 p.m. dr k* said everything
went well...there were no complications...so far, so good. Her left ventricle seems to be working just fine, as pre-op. that is one of our top concerns. we're now waiting to go back to cicu to see her. it could still be another hour. god is good! thanks for those prayers!
***update***so far, so good4:30pmkatie is now back in the cicu....looks good, only slightly puffy at this point.expect she will be very puffy tomorrow.right now, her stats are on target...oxygen levels are 90-94! she is running a slight fever, which can be normal after surgery. they have placed a fan at her bedside and given her tylenol to try to cool her cool down. her blood pressure is good, along with her heart rate and she is breathing over the ventaliator at times. she has only two tubes draining blood from her chest.she has opened her eyes a few times and is moving her arms...the nurse gave her more knock out medicine so she won't wake up now.thanks again for all of your prayers throughout today!!