Hemi-Fontan | Open Heart Surgery #2

September 27th, 2022 | EP. 16 – Hemi-Fontan | Open Heart Surgery #2

First, we want to say happy birthday to our sweet baby girl. She is 6 months old. Please enjoy this fun little recap of Grace’s 6 month journey. We love you Grace. Happy Birthday baby girl!

-xoxo / Mom & Dad

Grace has officially had her 2nd open heart surgery (Hemi-Fontan) on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022. Leading up to her surgery, mom and dad were anxious. However, we did not feel as nervous as we did with her first open heart surgery (Norwood Operation). Being a numbers guy myself, and with the help of stats and data sets based on Gracies over these past couple months, I (as well as the doctors) was/were confident that Grace would pass the Hemi-Fontan operation with flying colors.

Fast forward to the day of Gracies Hemi-Fontan surgery, mom and dad woke up to a very playful and cheerful Grace who was kicking, grabbing her feet and babbling faster than eminem can rap in his semi-successful track (caution*** minor foul language is used in the following youtube link): ‘Rap God‘ – come on Eminem… STEP!!! Our cheery playful kicky Grace was scheduled for an early MRI on this day. However, before her MRI, mom and dad were instructed to give Grace a bath, but not just any bath, a special CHG cleansing bath. Basically, this cleansing solution is very potent for babys and the parents are supposed to rub it on and let it sit for roughly 1 min and then wipe the baby clean thoroughly. Even having rensed with warm water and given a warm cozy towel afterwards, our little girl Grace was no longer cheery, playful, or kicky. She was like an angry elf. You know, the cute looking elf’s that you would never suspect would hurt a fly but still frighteningly aggressive. Mom and dad gave Grace the 5 second count down to try and stop crying. That did not work. So mom and dad threatened time out. Again, that did not work. Finally, we pulled out the big guns and threatened to ground her from watching Ms. Rachel – and what do you know, she perked up with a smile on her face. Now, the true question here is: Do I feel like a bigger man for intimidating my child out of crying??? NO. I do not. In fact I feel very little. Although, I must say, I do feel it’s important that I set the precedence now on who runs the show around this household. Unfortunately for Grace, if she would have questioned my authority, I totally would have caved. I would have caved harder than Lebron James in a NBA Finals.

After Gracies special bath, mom and dad get Grace all clothed up and situated in her stroller to head towards the surgical area. At this point in time, it seems as if time is just flying. It felt like we couldn’t get enough time with little miss Grace. I could of laid around all day watching COPS on tv with Grace on this particular day. Mainly because COPS is just one of those shows you can have running in the background, so it’s really easy for me to fill those brief moments in time where Grace goes off on a random tangent of her own starring off into space. Babies are pretty freaking hilarious. Anyways, before we blinked an eye, Grace was heading off for surgery. But not before we had a family prayer together. P.S. Grace was dedicated to the lord only 1 week before. Mom and Dad are so proud of her. We couldn’t be more blessed with having a christ-centered family for Grace to grow. She was glowing from ear to ear after her dedication. Thank you to Valley Family Church – Pastors Eric & Alexa Jones – for dedicating our daughter.

As Grace left for surgery, we expected the surgery to finish around 7 PM or 8 PM. As the day got later, we kept getting word that surgery was going a bit rough and that it would be a little bit longer. Long story short (wish I could elaborate more, but it’s getting late [12:26am] and I want to get this blog post out before her next open heart surgery Friday, September 30th 2022 [tomorrow / today at the time of posting this]) Gracies had really high blood pressure coming out of surgery and it really perplexed the doctors. Leading up to the surgery, all of her stats, graphs and data looked great. Doctors expected no complications but there is always a chance. Turns out Grace has some blood flow obstructions in a couple arteries. To help explain this in more detail, please see the following video. If you would like to reach out with a prayer request, please fill out the form below. Mom and dad have direct access to all of the form fills that come in to Grace Elizabeth. Please feel free to drop us a request, donate to our foundation, or support us by purchasing a wristband. Thank you all for your generosity, love, and support. We love you. Grace loves you. Most importantly, God loves You. Be amazing today.

GRACE!!!! Mom and Dad love you so much. We will be right here waiting for you in recovery. Be strong. WE LOVE YOU!