Hudson’s Heart Journey

Hudson’s Heart Journey Hudson Hayes Wince was born on July 7, 2023. He has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS).

Hudson is giving 👍🏼 👍🏼 for getting the green light to go HOME!! His Echo, EKG, and X-ray all looked good! He did not e...
06/02/2026

Hudson is giving 👍🏼 👍🏼 for getting the green light to go HOME!! His Echo, EKG, and X-ray all looked good! He did not enjoy getting his sutures out, but who would? He has to be on oxygen for another 4 weeks and a low fat diet of 20g per day for the next month. He also has sternal precautions for 6 more weeks so no picking him up under his arms and no playing too rough (wish us luck when he’s home with his 3 older brothers). Please continue to pray for healing and for his heart to function as they surgically designed it to 💙🦬❤️

Today is Hudson’s post-op appointment where they will do an X-ray, echo, and take out his sutures from his chest tubes. ...
06/02/2026

Today is Hudson’s post-op appointment where they will do an X-ray, echo, and take out his sutures from his chest tubes. Please pray that everything looks good and they give us the okay to head home. We are so ready!!

Update (8:14pm - 5/28/2026)Hudson has done it again!✅ Open Heart Surgery #1 (Norwood) 4 days old✅ Inpatient Recovery✅ 4...
05/29/2026

Update (8:14pm - 5/28/2026)

Hudson has done it again!

✅ Open Heart Surgery #1 (Norwood) 4 days old
✅ Inpatient Recovery
✅ 4-month stay with mommy in Denver
✅ Open Heart Surgery #2 (Glenn) 4 months old
✅ Inpatient Recovery
✅ Open Heart Surgery #3 (Fontan) 2y10m old
✅ Inpatient Recovery

Next up: Post-op appointment on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Hudson completed his inpatient recovery yesterday which was confirmed by an early morning X-ray this morning so he was discharged! We have to remain here until June 2 for his post-op appointment.

He met all the major requirements that were keeping him in the hospital, but he will continue to heal up at home. He’s on 5 different medications and is required to be on oxygen for up to 6 weeks.

We are so happy to be out of there, but he’s still not 100% his happy self. He’s emotional, gets tired easily, and doesn’t quite understand why we are limiting his activities. Day by day we are confident he will get back to the busy boy he was before this.

05/27/2026

Update (6:43pm - 5/26/26)

Another good day for Hudson and a couple positive changes!

Hudson’s chest tube output has improved to the point where the medical team decided he was ready for them to be removed! We believe this was the source of most of his pain and discomfort and definitely limited his mobility. He seems to be happier and enjoying the added freedom.

We had a new rotation of medical team members for rounds today and they were surprised at how big he is and every single doctor we’ve talked to says it’s very rare for a Fontan patient to be potty trained. They asked us if we’d prefer a bigger bed, which was funny because we were just talking about how we wish we could have a normal bed we could lay with him in.

The team would like his food intake to improve, but he’s on a low fat diet with very few options that he likes on the menu here. He’s been pretty picky as far as that goes.

Otherwise, he’s doing all the things and making improvements day by day. No word on discharge yet. We are “patiently” waiting for that day. After discharge we’ll have to stay in the area temporarily for a follow-up appointment.

Hudson has a message for his Herd…”thank you for the prayers!”

05/24/2026

💙🦬

Update (10:04pm - 5/23/26)Hudson was a momma’s boy today and got in a lot of snuggles with the best of the best. He took...
05/24/2026

Update (10:04pm - 5/23/26)

Hudson was a momma’s boy today and got in a lot of snuggles with the best of the best. He took a walk around the unit, got some fresh air on a wagon ride outside, and we were able to change some things up (after some advocating during rounds and multiple discussions with the staff) to finally get him to take his meds (which we are now calling “vitamins”) orally this evening!

He still isn’t 100% his spunky self, but for only being day three post-op we are all thrilled with the way things are going and especially the way things went today.

There’s still pain. There are still tears. But every conversation with staff really reminds us how far he has come. They don’t see Fontan kids as big as Hudson. They don’t see Fontan kids who are potty trained. He truly is a miracle and I couldn’t be prouder of him.

I don’t have an update on his chest tube output for today, so continued prayers for that to be decreasing.

Finally, thank you to Noah Clair and the Covenant Sports Group for sending us supper tonight. We appreciate you thinking of us.

Thank you all for the continued love and support.

🦬💙

Update from the past 2 days (9:51am - 5/23/26)Hudson’s over it. He took his half aspirin dissolved in water from a syrin...
05/23/2026

Update from the past 2 days (9:51am - 5/23/26)

Hudson’s over it. He took his half aspirin dissolved in water from a syringe every day at home without issue, but they gave him a different medicine in a syringe called gabapentin, which doesn’t taste good. Now he won’t take any meds orally, which is a hurdle we will have to get over before we can leave or he will continue to be in extreme pain and discomfort.

We have made some progress. We are no longer in ICU and have moved up to the Cardiac Progressive Care Unit (CPCU) for the remainder of our inpatient stay. We aren’t sure how long it will be. He still has chest tubes that are capturing the fluid around his lungs. The output from those has to decrease in order for those to be removed which would be a major step in getting him more mobile. He basically moves from the bed to the chair back to the bed (and on and on and on) when he’s restless. We went for walks down in the ICU, but it was a whole production of cords and tubes and helpers. Not easy to just get up and go.

To summarize, we are waiting for a decrease in output from the chest tubes and to regain the ability to take pain meds orally. Those seem to be the two biggest issues at this time.

Please keep Hudson in your prayers and specifically for him to overcome those two obstacles.

He wants to go home. We want to go home.

Some highlights from today! Hudson is more like himself and made some big strides today. He was sitting up eating jello ...
05/21/2026

Some highlights from today! Hudson is more like himself and made some big strides today. He was sitting up eating jello by 7 AM. He’s weaned off of most of his meds. He stood up and walked around the unit on his own. He told us he didn’t want to walk, he wanted to run 😅 The hardest part has been keeping him down. He wants to get down and move to different places but it’s so hard to move him with his chest tubes, lines, and monitors. He also has sternal precautions so you can’t pick him up under the arms for 8 weeks, which makes it very difficult to pick him up and move him. He has been keeping the nurses entertained! He could move out of the CICU but they don’t have a bed available in the step down unit yet so looking at tomorrow. Continued prayers for comfort and healing. As he starts eating his low fat diet, they watch for fluid around the lungs before they take his chest tubes out. He has been one strong and brave boy and we are so proud of him ❤️🦬💙

Hudson’s surgery went well today and he is now in the CICU. We finally got to see him about an hour ago. We are still wa...
05/20/2026

Hudson’s surgery went well today and he is now in the CICU. We finally got to see him about an hour ago. We are still waiting for him to wake up so they can take the breathing tube out. Please pray for him to wake up soon and to successfully breathe on his own 💙🦬❤️

Tomorrow, May 20th, Hudson will undergo his 3rd open heart surgery, the Fontan, at 7:30 AM MDT. Please wear your Hudson ...
05/19/2026

Tomorrow, May 20th, Hudson will undergo his 3rd open heart surgery, the Fontan, at 7:30 AM MDT. Please wear your Hudson Herd shirts and keep him in your thoughts and prayers 💙🦬❤️

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