Surgery day

Well it is Monday afternoon around 1 as I type this.  Patrick has been in the OR for 5 ½ hours and on the heart-lung bypass machine for 2 hours. I suspect that his surgery is less than halfway though.  We will watch many families come and go from the waiting room.  I imagine after we leave they will turn the lights off.   Many have asked what they are doing to repair Patrick’s heart.  The next few lines are a little technical but I will try the best I can to explain what happening.  So the problems with Patrick’s heart are many.  He has two ventricles but the septum that should be between them is essentially nonexistent.  Also the pulmonary artery that normally would come off of the right ventricle doesn’t.  It doesn’t exist.  The two valves that normally separate the atria and the ventricles are combined into one valve that doesn’t work exactly right.  He only has one coronary artery.  Some of his pulmonary veins are poorly developed and did I mention his heart is on the right side?  (For those of you who want to look it up on WebMD the medical terms for these are dextrocardia, double outlet right ventricle, partial AV canal defect, and large ventricular septal defect).  So the procedure to correct all of this will include creating a septum between the right and left ventricle so that the blood goes to the aorta only through the left ventricle, not both ventricles.  Then a piece of donated aorta with a valve will be run from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery so that blood can get to the lungs.  The stenotic pulmonary veins will be opened up, and finally the surgery that was done in China will be reversed.  He may require some work on his mitral valve but that is unclear as of now.  All of this will give Patrick a fairly normal circuit of blood and a normal blood oxygen level. Following his surgery Patrick will be taken to the ICU on a ventilator, possibly with his chest incision not completely closed.

If I lost you in all of the details here are the Cliffs Notes: He has a bunch of defects, lots has to be done to repair said defects, complications are a distinct possibility, and we are going to be here for a while. 

I’ve seen a lot through medical school, residency, and my practice, but being part of this gives me a whole new level of understanding and respect for academic doctors who are so superspecialized.  I once thought that plastic surgeons had to be ultraartistic to do their jobs, but I’m beginning to think that these pediatric cardiovascular specialists need to be gifted in the art of medicine more than any other specialist.  For anyone who has to go through this in the future so far we couldn’t be more pleased with Boston Children’s, Dr. Emani, and Dr. Marx. 

Currently Lauren and I are doing well all things considered. The next few days, weeks, or even months are going to be the most challenging we have faced as parents and as a family.  Fortunately we serve a God of grace and mercy who has planned every step in advance.  We are relying on that more than ever right now.  We have been overwhelmed by the number of messages, voicemails, social media posts, and cards to let us know that you are praying for us.  All I can say is thank you and please keep it up.  It is humbling to know that people on multiple continents are praying for us.  Even more humbling to know that the God of the Universe hears every one of those prayers.

We will do our best to give updates as frequently as we are able. 

 

Jason And Lauren