Well, we got the call on Wednesday, and surgery has been scheduled! The original time-frame was between four and six months of age, which would be mid-May through mid-July. Since he's been growing so well, we went a little earlier (but not much). The cardiac catheter that they need to do prior to surgery will be done on Monday, May 9th, followed by The Big Meeting (the doctor/surgeon consult, essentially) on the 10th, and surgery day will be the 11th!
Our pretty-much-set plan (and I say "pretty much" because our last trip out and back changed about 18 times before we ever left) is for me to drive out with Brandt, probably the 7th, so I can do it in two days if I have to. Tanner will stay home with Wade, to keep things as stable as possible for him this time. He was a mess when we brought him home again last month...he had never been away from us overnight, and then suddenly, we were gone, and he only saw us once over the next three weeks. Tanner does still have to work, but his mom is going to come out from Oregon to stay with Wade during the day. The only thing that will really be different for him will be my absence. He probably won't appreciate that much, but at least he'll be in a familiar place!
I've decided not to hog a room at the Ronald McDonald house, since it will just be me, this time. I'll just live in the hospital this time. It shouldn't be too bad, really, because they have showers, laundry facilities, a closet, fold out couch, etc. I plan to bring lots of things to keep myself occupied, but I'm sure that by the time I get home again, I'll be pretty well done with "down time". If all goes according to plan (and when does it ever do that?), the recovery time should just be about a week to ten days, which would put us home before the end of May! Fingers crossed that it actually works out that way.
As a refresher, so you don't have to go digging through old posts to read through my old explanation, Dr. Chen will be performing what's called a Glenn Shunt during this surgery. It's the second of three that are jointly called the Fontan Procedure.
This is Brandt's heart, essentially, with no pulmonary artery to speak of (the long skinny thing, center stage), and a great big hole between the ventricles (circled). On the left are the two major veins that return blue blood to the heart, called the Superior (top) and Inferior (bottom) vena cava. This surgery will deal with the SVC.
It's pretty easy to tell from the picture, just what they've done, but I'll run through it anyway. They will disconnect the BT shunt (the thing that's currently keeping him alive), indicated at the top, then disconnect the pulmonary artery if necessary (quite honestly, I don't know if they will, because I'm not sure what he has, as far as a PA. Opinions range all over the place, depending on what doctor you talk to. Suffice it to say that whatever is there isn't functional, I suppose). Finally, they detach the SVC from the heart, sew the resulting hole closed, and plumb the newly cut end directly into the right pulmonary artery. That directs half of the blue blood straight past the heart, to the lungs.
By the way, it's only been in the last couple months that I realized why heart pictures always seem to be labeled backwards. I mean, the right ventricle/atrium/PA is on the left side of the page!! What kind of weirdo was in charge of the labeling system back when everything got named...?
But it turns out that the right ventricle/atrium/PA is on the right side of the body, and I'm just a little brain dead. You learn something new every day, right? The fact that Brandt is dextrocardic (his heart is essentially a mirror image of what I'm showing you) is even more confusing. His "right" atrium/etc is actually on the right side of the page, in a picture, but is really his left atrium/etc because it's on his left side...
I try not to think about that too much. Smoke starts rolling out of my ears when my brain overheats.
Anyway, confusing anatomy lesson aside, I'll keep everyone updated as we get closer to surgery day!
(On another note, I've just discovered that the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle has a wish list on Amazon. It's full of the basics that they need to keep the place running and the pantry stocked up. This place is such a great charity, and every little bit helps, so if you ever buy a twelve-pack of toothpaste and don't know what to do with it, send it their way!)
Our pretty-much-set plan (and I say "pretty much" because our last trip out and back changed about 18 times before we ever left) is for me to drive out with Brandt, probably the 7th, so I can do it in two days if I have to. Tanner will stay home with Wade, to keep things as stable as possible for him this time. He was a mess when we brought him home again last month...he had never been away from us overnight, and then suddenly, we were gone, and he only saw us once over the next three weeks. Tanner does still have to work, but his mom is going to come out from Oregon to stay with Wade during the day. The only thing that will really be different for him will be my absence. He probably won't appreciate that much, but at least he'll be in a familiar place!
I've decided not to hog a room at the Ronald McDonald house, since it will just be me, this time. I'll just live in the hospital this time. It shouldn't be too bad, really, because they have showers, laundry facilities, a closet, fold out couch, etc. I plan to bring lots of things to keep myself occupied, but I'm sure that by the time I get home again, I'll be pretty well done with "down time". If all goes according to plan (and when does it ever do that?), the recovery time should just be about a week to ten days, which would put us home before the end of May! Fingers crossed that it actually works out that way.
As a refresher, so you don't have to go digging through old posts to read through my old explanation, Dr. Chen will be performing what's called a Glenn Shunt during this surgery. It's the second of three that are jointly called the Fontan Procedure.
This is Brandt's heart, essentially, with no pulmonary artery to speak of (the long skinny thing, center stage), and a great big hole between the ventricles (circled). On the left are the two major veins that return blue blood to the heart, called the Superior (top) and Inferior (bottom) vena cava. This surgery will deal with the SVC.
It's pretty easy to tell from the picture, just what they've done, but I'll run through it anyway. They will disconnect the BT shunt (the thing that's currently keeping him alive), indicated at the top, then disconnect the pulmonary artery if necessary (quite honestly, I don't know if they will, because I'm not sure what he has, as far as a PA. Opinions range all over the place, depending on what doctor you talk to. Suffice it to say that whatever is there isn't functional, I suppose). Finally, they detach the SVC from the heart, sew the resulting hole closed, and plumb the newly cut end directly into the right pulmonary artery. That directs half of the blue blood straight past the heart, to the lungs.
By the way, it's only been in the last couple months that I realized why heart pictures always seem to be labeled backwards. I mean, the right ventricle/atrium/PA is on the left side of the page!! What kind of weirdo was in charge of the labeling system back when everything got named...?
But it turns out that the right ventricle/atrium/PA is on the right side of the body, and I'm just a little brain dead. You learn something new every day, right? The fact that Brandt is dextrocardic (his heart is essentially a mirror image of what I'm showing you) is even more confusing. His "right" atrium/etc is actually on the right side of the page, in a picture, but is really his left atrium/etc because it's on his left side...
I try not to think about that too much. Smoke starts rolling out of my ears when my brain overheats.
Anyway, confusing anatomy lesson aside, I'll keep everyone updated as we get closer to surgery day!
(On another note, I've just discovered that the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle has a wish list on Amazon. It's full of the basics that they need to keep the place running and the pantry stocked up. This place is such a great charity, and every little bit helps, so if you ever buy a twelve-pack of toothpaste and don't know what to do with it, send it their way!)
I thought they were doing the IVC first. Been telling a bunch of people wrong, apparently. :-/
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