Joy comes in the morning

Pin It Yesterday evening Ivy had her 3rd open heart surgery. Yes I know there are a lot of jaws being picked up off the floor right now.... But lets remember who we are talking about and how incredible she is!!
Ivy's mitral valve was not making her surgeon happy! Her Echo late yesterday revealed that the cleft was wide open again and just not holding the patch. When we got here, Ivy's MV regurg. was 10 (on a scale of 1-10). After the Boston repair the MV regurg. was 3-4. And yesterday, the echo revealed it was back to 10. They wasted NO time. Dr Baird, Dr Del Nido and Dr marx got together. They called some other members of the team in, and looked at all the data. They agreed that this was not acceptable and they asked for consent to go back in. Because they care!! They know that severe mitral valve regurg is not going to allow Ivy to thrive like we expect her to if untreated. They also do not settle for half (donkey) jobs here! They aim to repair what you have, but they were feeling like they may end up using a mechanical valve on Ivy due to the valves condition.
Bryan and I felt this was the right thing to do and had total peace about it. We felt the need to keep this step to ourselves as it was happening so quickly and we had so much going on with the family all leaving today. Ivy did fantastic in her surgery. She went on and came OFF bypass without a problem. She had hardly no bleeding. They used all the same lines and drains and she was already intubated. She came upstairs with her chest all closed up, minimal swelling and looking much like when she went down. Her regurgitation is now about a 2 and that is necessary because if she had no regurgitation on a patched valve, she would get stenosis. 
They did not use a mechanical valve. She is too tiny and they would have had to use one that she would quickly outgrow. Also it would be sure to get stenosis if they attempted to use a larger one. The were able to use a patch, more like a ring, that is actually tissue of the intestine. Her own tissue will grow right with it, and her body will absorb it as its own. They feel it was the right choice for the little jellybean and she is recovering beautifully tonight. They do not expect this to slow her recovery. In fact they feel she will get off the ventilator easier and recover quicker now. 
I knew you all were still praying. The peace we felt was proof. And the strength of our girl...... Just amazing!!!!!
Pictures soon. My family is leaving this morning (so sad) and I will have lots of upcoming boring days to post. I miss them already. And based on the craziness going on at their hotel last night, I think they might just miss me already too!!! And My baby Lexi..... not hearing her joyful self for weeks is going to be hard. But I'm getting pretty good at hard things I think. And all the fun ahead will get me through!!! Nat, Bryan, Chris, Jenna, Laurie..... please feel free to stop by and love on my sweet Lexi for me! Mrs. Richardson, .. Extra hugs at school please :)
Daddy is going to have a blast with his little pumpkin while I am gone. And big sisters and brother are too! Pumpkin Patch, Halloween, 3 year forever family day celebration are all coming up!!!! 
And Ivy Joy will be here, just getting strong as an ox over the next few weeks. I can't wait to post a video of her walking. She may just skip walking and run!!!!!!
Love to all!!!
Good night! Pin It