Eden's New Heart Day

At 9am this morning the hospital called to say that they have found a heart for Eden. I have spoken with DeDe, our transplant coordinator, so many times on the phone that I was no longer shocked to hear her voice on the other end. However, this time she did sound different.... She explained that a good match for Eden has been found and the surgeons were going to check it out and make sure that it is in the best possible condition. We needed to head to the hospital within the hour to start Eden's prep work for surgery.


Obviously, I was a bit frantic. I was taking care of my friend's 1 year old for the day (or so I thought) and had to quickly find a neighbor to watch her and get together our stuff for the hospital. Once we were placed into a room and Brian arrived, things began to settle down. Eden was initially free to run around. She met her roommate and even watched Nemo. As the day progressed we got more information from the surgeon. By 4pm we learned that the new heart looked good and the surgery was a go! (False alarms happen when the body has suffered too much damage or the heart seems to look bad in person.) The surgeons removed the donor heart and flew back to Denver while Eden was taken into the operating room.

The separation was the worst part. Sending away our otherwise healthy child into a heart transplant surgery felt terribly unnatural. Luckily, they had already started the anesthesia and Brian and I probably suffered more than she. Then began the waiting.... and the rallying of our friends and family. As our group grew in the lobby, we were periodically updated, and the tears turned to laughter.

The surgery took 5 hours exactly and then a couple more to finish and transport her back to the CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit). We first saw her at about 1:30am, seven long hours after our departure and she was already starting to move and open her eyes a little. Her body was quite a shock to see. She has tubes and IVs everywhere, not to mention the at least 20 different monitors flashing and beeping behind her.

The greatest news to share is that she is doing so well. We continually receive wonderful reports and every Cardiologist that walks by, looks at Eden and all the monitors, and raves of her status. I am a bit overwhelmed at the stats right now, but will give more details as I learn. We have had the best possible situation right now and can only hope it continues. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, especially over the next couple of weeks. We will continue to update as we can.