Post Surgery

We could not be happier right now. He is quite stable. They tell us that tonight will probably not go as smooth. They say it takes the body 6-12 hours before the organs start manifesting distress from everything they have undergone today. And I have to take back the no surprises comment we made the day of birth. There was a big one in surgery today.

After opening his chest they realized he had a right sided vascular ring. That means the aorta was wrapped around the esophogus. So not only did they have to do rebuild his underdevelopped aortic arch, but they had to dissect his aorta and arteries that brach off the aorta to pull them in front of the esophogus. The team of surgeons and doctors here have personally never seen a vascular ring with HLHS. The ring is most commonly a defect all by itself and is not discovered until the child gets a little older and starts to have eating or breathing issues because the ring is beginning to put pressure on the esophogus or trachea. Wow! That was definately a surprise. They feel the surgery went really well considering the added details.

They also used a different shunt called the Sano Shunt. It shunts some blood from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery. The pressures on his pulmonary valve are high right now and they feel it might suffer some significant damage if they do not relieve the pressure some before the next surgery. The next surgery, the Glenn, will relieve it even more. This was discussed as an option yesterday, and they decided in surgery to go with it. It will help relieve the pressure on his pulmonary valve. I know this might be too much info for some, but others want to know! I also have a picture of him in our room post op below. I kneeled down as to minimize the shot of Ethan. Some may not want to see him close up right now, but I wanted to show all the medications and machines that are helping him along! His is a fighter.

Again love and thanks to all!

Greg and Heidi