Surgery 8/2

We could sure use your positive thoughts and prayers next week for an upcoming surgery for Gracie. Gracie is going in for surgery next week to remove a broken wire in her sternum. She has been having problems with this wire for the last month, and it has reached a point where the wire needs to come out. A bit of background for you non heart folks out there, after heart surgery metal wire is used to hold the sternum together while the bone is fusing back together. Once the bone is healed the wire remains in place and usually doesn't cause any problems. In heart surgery for babies and children, as the child grows it is common for the metal wire to break. Most of the time when the metal wire breaks it doesn't cause any issues and rarely leads to any kind of intervention.

And then there is us...

About a month ago we had a scare related to a broken wire in Gracie's chest. As many of your know, hiking is one of our most cherished family activities.

From the time that Gracie was less than a year old and could hold her head up unassisted we have been out on the trail with G riding around in a hiking backpack.

We frequently plan our weekends, free time and vacations around taking Gracie for a little hike. Gracie absolutely loves it and we have had her out countless times without a problem.

For Father's Day we decided to get Paul a new backpack for G with an internal frame to help better balance her nearly 30 pounds. The whole family was very excited, we found some new trails and we were having a great start to our summer.

Sadly the evening after this picture was taken during a hike, Gracie developed a huge welt on her chest that was most likely caused from a buckle on her new backpack rubbing against an area on her chest where she has a broken wire. We were absolutely devastated that this happened. Our doctors have reassured us that there is no way we could have known that buckle would have been rubbing on the exact spot where she had a broken wire and not to beat ourselves up. Easier said than done :(

After a couple weeks the swelling did go down but this past weekend Gracie was trying out a new walker that will help her be mobile at preschool, and unfortunately she experienced the same swelling. So, the wire needs to come out.

Granted this wire removal surgery is a very small procedure compared to what she has been through in the past. However, Gracie has battled sternal wound infections after surgery. Every. Single. Time. With heart surgeries 2 and 3 Gracie had extensive interventions to fight the infections and was in the hospital for weeks. So it is not a small deal for us to think about her having even a minor surgery that will be in area where she has had problems with infection.

As nervous and upset as I am about this upcoming surgery, I also have a sense of peace that this will go smoothly. Gracie is older and stonger and her immune system is more revved to be able to handle an infection should one arise. Maybe this will be the time that a surgery will go textbook for us. Maybe that will be the comfort I need to know when the Fontan comes everything will be okay.