Plumbing and Electrical Repairs

 January 4, 2023

Annika's surgery went well yesterday.  It took longer than expected.--nearly five hours by the time we finally were able to see her in the recovery room--but she is doing great.  Part of the reason the surgery took so long is that it was really two separate surgeries performed by two different teams.  The first step was to fix the plumbing.

Plumbing Fix:  Atrial Septal Defect Repair.  With this surgery, they went back in and closed the hole that they intentionally created between her right and left atria while she was on ECMO.  During ECMO, this hole was critically important to help balance out the pressure between the different sides of her heart.  Now they wanted to close the hole so that a blood clot wouldn't unintentionally flow between the chambers of the heart.  Normally this clotting wouldn't be a concern, but the second surgery involved inserting some leads which the body could identify as foreign material, creating clots in the process.

Electrical Fix:  Insertion of an Internal Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).  Obviously what happened to Annika is scary--really scary.  Now that she's recovering, one of our biggest concerns is how to prevent this from ever happening again.  I had images of me hovering near her 24/7 with an AED in hand, bribing her to stay inside and watch movies instead of doing something risky like going outside to play.

Well, Annika's ICD is the safety device that will allow her to live her best life.  Her ICD will monitor her heart continually.  If her heart enters a dangerous arrhythmia, beating too quickly for too long, the ICD will actually allow her to pass out, then deliver a lifesaving shock.  It has the ability to pace her heart if necessary, and even communicates with the cardiologist.  We now have a transmitter that will stay plugged in next to Annika's bed.  Every night at 2:00 am, the device will transmit any abnormal heart arrhythmias that were not severe enough to merit defibrillation, if detected.  Then every 90 days the device will automatically send a comprehensive report to the hospital cardiologist.  The technology really is incredible!  I feel so grateful to live in this age of advanced lifesaving equipment.  Biotechnology is my new favorite field.

So here's a photo of what Annika's ICD looks like.  It sits below her clavicle and will be slightly visible beneath the skin since she doesn't have much fat on her.

They try to set the parameters for ICD discharge pretty high so that you don't end up inappropriately shocking a person over and over.  In the unlikely case that this were to happen, they also gave us a strong magnet that we can place over the ICD to keep it from firing.  Annika also gets a special card to use going through airport security when traveling.

As far as surgical recovery goes, Annika isn't supposed to raise her arm above 90 degrees for the next two months.  She's also supposed to keep two feet on the floor--nothing like a trampoline or other fall risk where she might catch herself with her arms.

Annika was super brave going into surgery and sweet coming out as well.  Here are some pictures of her in the recovery room.

A super tough kid, she's only asked for pain medication once.  Mostly, she just wanted her Dad to read her Harry Potter.

Last funny story:  after the surgery they brought Annika a few choices of reward that she could take home with her.  I thought she would choose the fuzzy blanket, but no, she asked for the blender!

A girl after my own heart.  Thickened smoothies, here we come!