Monday, August 17, 2009

The Date is Set

So we go to the surgeon's office today, which I may say was extremely nice and informative. Most doctors are trying to run out of the room ASAP but even with a packed office he sat and talked with us for about 45 minutes. At first he said he didn't have the dictation from the ECHO that was done with his cath. He said that the ECHO is what shows the size of the chambers of the heart. He was going to wait to schedule something till he had that until I informed him of what the doctor that performed the cath had said. He had said that the chamber is extremely enlarged which is bad becuase the heart is just like any muscle that gets worked out, except when the heart gets too big it doesnt contract like it should and doesn't pump the blood out to the body. So on that note he said that we would go ahead as if we were replacing it and if he saw anything different in the ECHO he would call and cancel, SO........the date is set. Sept 18. There are a couple of downfalls though. One is that his father's birthday is that day soo Happy Birthday Dad and the other is a long drawn out story that I will try to simplify.

Cyrus is to small for a valve replacement. The valves that are made for replacements are too big to fit his heart so he really isn't a canadite for that. He said that they have recently been repairing alot of valves to prolong the need for a full replacement until the child is big enough. So his plan is to attempt to repair it and if he cannot his last resort will be what they call a Ross Procedure. It's where they take the aortic valve is replaced with the person's own pulmonary valve. A pulmonary homograft (valve taken from a cadaver) is then used to replace the patient's own pulmonary valve. Basically they take the valve that pumps the blood from the lungs back into the heart and put it where the aortic valve is and use an artifical valve and put it where they took the pulmonary valve. I think that's about as simple as I can put it. He said that was the last resort because they are now finding years later complications with that procedure years down the road. At any case this will not be his last surgery and hopefully it isn't the worst. I am not happy with the options that are laid out but I guess those are the only ones available. He answered everyone of my questions and waited till I made sure I thought of everything I wanted to ask. He was very nice and compassionate.

Cyrus is aware that he has to have surgery but I don't know if he has really thought about it. I did tell him that he will be put asleep again and I think that helps alot that he knows that. He was being his goofy, energetic self today. He even asked the doctor if he was sure he knows what he is doing. LOL. He responded back with an equally silly answer.

The questions I asked to today were:
1) How long will the surgery take? About 5 hours

2)How long will he be intubated? He said that they keep them intubated overnight and then extubate the next day.

3)How long is the recovery time?
-He will be in the hospital 5-7 days.
- He will be able to go back to activites in about 3 weeks.
- He should be fully recovered by 2 months.

So I think I covered it all. We really do apprecitate all the prayers and thoughts that have been sent our way and we hope that you keep sending them. I will try to update more during this time and keep everyone up to date.

1 comment:

  1. awesome that it's set so soon, i hope everything goes as well as possible for your little man. -Tiara

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