Parents' experiences of having a child undergoing congenital heart surgery: An emotional rollercoaster from shocking to blessing

•Parents experienced a “rollercoaster” of emotions having a child endure heart surgery.•The ups and downs of parents' emotions depended on their child's changing conditions.•Critical times: at diagnosis, handing child over for surgery, surgery, and PICU visit.•Fathers took on a double-fold role in their families to protect both child and wife.•Parents' experiences transitioned from being shocked at first to being blessed at end.

ObjectivesTo describe parents' experiences when their child with congenital heart disease (CHD) underwent heart surgery.BackgroundAbout 40,000 children are born with CHD in the United States each year. Very few studies have explored parents' experiences when their child was diagnosed with CHD and underwent heart surgery.MethodsDescriptive phenomenology informed this study that consisted of two interviews with 13 parents.ResultsParents experienced a “rollercoaster” of emotions. Critical times were when parents received their child's diagnosis, handed their child over to the surgical team, and visited their child in the pediatric intensive care unit after surgery. Related stressors were the uncertainty of outcomes after surgery, the loss of parental control, the physical appearance of their child, and the fear of the technological atmosphere in the intensive care unit.ConclusionsThe ups and downs of parents' emotions reflected their child's changing condition and parents' adjustment to the condition.