On behalf of Victoria

Victoria is very sweet, and so is her mummy. It seems appropriate - if late - that Victoria (or I on her behalf) wishes her mummy a very happy Mothers Day. If Victoria were old enough herself she certainly would have done so herself.

Email

My Mother should be equipped with a laptop and wireless connector a Thursday pm. Please feel free to email at tracyvdb'at'sermonaudio'dot'com. I am sure that messages of encouragement would be much appreciated.

There no further news on the blood pressure issue as yet though the surgeon has indicated the main issue at present is for Victoria to reduce reliance on the ventilator in order that it can be taken off. They are giving her 4.5mm of milk every hour, four-on-one-off, via the naso-gastric tube and hope to find out how well she is digesting the milk. Further news will be posted as it comes to light (maybe even live from the Brompton!).

Wednesday evening

It seems nothing major has developed since the last post, Victoria is still on IV as a cold is evident, though her temperature is back down. There is a concern resulting from her blood pressure having unexpectedly dropped very low on three occasions, we have no further information on that though and will post anything that comes to light.

Please pray particularly for my Mother who needs a lot of strength and is naturally finding the experience very demanding. Please also pray that she would get some sleep. My Father is staying in again tonight but Lucy will be going up tomorrow and staying the night on Thursday, DV. The plans of her going up today were put back due to a cold.

Wednesday afternoon

My mum has just phoned, and the news update as is follows:
The ventilator came off this morning, and Victoria was breathing fine. However, it soon became apparent that Victoria is too active for her own good, and the risk of her knocking various pipes and tubes meant that it was best to increase the sedation, which then meant that she could no longer breath by herself, so she is back on the ventilator.
Victoria's temperature has been high, and so IV antibiotics have been administered; please pray that she doesn't develop an infection as this would obviously be a set back to recovery.
Pray also that Victoria would have thorough carers; there is one nurse in particular who has committed at least two very stupid mistakes, one of which was to do with the ventilator having run out of power last night (that was her fault). I don't like to think what might happen that isn't so obvious as a ventilator switching off and having a load of alarms going - I think prayer is the only way to be sure nothing goes wrong, thankfully God is in control.

Wednesday morning

I was in touch with my parents again this morning, and the update then (at about 7am) is as follows. This is no longer news, as the picture changes so rapidly that I'd need to get an hourly update to be accurate, but you'll have the general idea at least.
An echo done on Victoria last night confirmed that the operation was a success. The only thing now is that her heart is swollen, which is understandable in the circumstances, and should not be a problem. Victoria is still on the ventilator, she is now breathing 20 breaths a minute of her own, and will quite likely come of the ventilator later today. The general anesthetic has worn off now, from what I understand, and she is having IV morphine, instead. This means that she is awake enough to be a fidget, much like her usual self, and has been fiddling with her ng tube and the IV tube in her neck, so scratch mits are being sought in an effort to stop herself from knocking anything that needs to stay put!! She is responsive to sound and touch; and has been grasping my mother's finger when given the opportunity to. Her core temp is back to normal, although her peripheral temperature is not what it is expected to be. My parents saw a doctor last evening, who said that everything is all very good.
My mother (who provided the above information) also points out that she is full of thankfulness - as we all are - for God's goodness and control in all that is happening, and thankful to all those who have taken Victoria's needs to the throne of grace in prayer.

Update

Thank you for praying.

A short time ago I was able to get in touch with my parents and find out a bit more information. Victoria went into the operation a bit late due to problems matching the blood (antibodies) but apart from that everything went as it should have and she came out around 4:30pm (onto the intensive care ward).

She is still heavily sedated and is not breathing (a ventilator is being used). Brief panic ensued when the battery ran flat on the ventilator but it seems to have been rectified quickly with no problems. It is expected that when the anaesthetic wears off she will start breathing again.

No blood transfusion seems to have been necessary to date as they were able to put in the blood used in the bypass machine (her own). I think they had not finished putting that back in (unless I misunderstood) and so one assumes that the heart/lung bypass will be used until the drugs wear off sufficiently.

A heart echo has been performed which seems to have confirmed that so far as can be told the heart is working properly.

Please join us in praising the Lord for this amazing answer to prayer, and continue in prayer for Victoria and my parents. My father is coming back in Wednesday DV and we will be going in to visit regularly. My Mother is of course staying with Victoria for the full stay (expected to be 10 days).

Once again, thank you for your prayers and updates will be posted as information becomes available.

Action

My dad phoned about 10 minutes ago, to say the operation is now getting underway.