We just spoke with Dr Hanley at 10am. Owen's lines are in and he's ready for bypass.
Dr Hanley sat down with us and we talked about the surgery. He'll put him on bypass and cool down his body. He's going to do his best to fix his Tricuspid valve. When he's done with the repair, he'll take Owen off bypass and they'll do an internal echo of his heart.
He wants to see a significant improvement in his valve leak (little to no leak) and he needs to feel confident that the repair is strong enough to last. If not.. he will put Owen back on bypass and either tweak it some more, or he will replace his valve.
After talking in depth with Dr Hanley, we decided to go with a pig valve for Owen. It won't last long term, 5 to 10 years if we're lucky. The hard reality is that his heart may not make it that long anyway and he'll require a transplant. On the other hand, it may last another 20, and we will be looking at another valve repair in the future. On the upside.. Owen can just continue on Asprin as a blood thinner.
While the mechanical valve is a longer term option, we have to consider that Owen is a 3 yr old boy. The coumadin, blood thinner, would require daily pokes and frequent lab work. If he gets hit with a ball in the gut or falls on his head, we will constantly be concerned about internal bleeding.
My gut instinct says the pig valve is the best option for Owen at this time. My hope is that Dr Hanley will work some magic and we won't even have to worry about an artificial valve.
Owen is in Heavenly Father's hands right now and the confident hands of Dr Hanley.
We won't hear anything for another 3-4 hours. Please continue to pray.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
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19 comments:
Thinking of you and Owen!
Just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you guys today. Sending hugs & prayers your way...
Praying with Hope,
~ Chris A ~
Sending lots of prayers your way.
prayers from Hawaii.
Still praying!
PRAYING!!!
I found your blog through Sailor & Company. I wanted to tell you I will be thinking of you today and in days to come. I have a 20 yo granddaughter that had her first heart surgery at 18 months old. After many more surgeries and lots of prayers she had a heart and lung transplant at age 10. She is now in college and doing well. Medicine is remarkable. I pray that you will get the same miracle that we received.
Keli (a blessed grandmother).
Praying for Owen and your family.
PRAYING!!! May God be with y'all and the surgeons during this time!
xoxo
Praying for our little heart buddy! Go Owen Go! We love you!
Thinking of you guys today. :)
Just stopping over from Joye's blog and wanted to introduce myself. My son Andrew has tetralogy of fallot and he'll be undergoing open heart surgery in about a week. He just had his pre-surgical cath today. Just wanted to say we'll be praying for Owen- he is so adorable! Our Andrew loves Woody and Buzz too! :)
Sending prayers from Iowa!
Jen, Craig & Andrew
Praying in frigid Middleton, WI
Andrea,
We are right here with you, praying.
I keep clicking on the great photo of Owen peeking
through the hole of the baseball cap. Silly, silly boy!
Big sis, you are in our continued prayers, too!
Thank you so much for keeping us updated on what is happening with Owen. I will continue to pray for him and you both.
Anxiously awaiting the next update. And he remains in my prayers! Love from Utah.
My brother in law had a valve replacement with a pig valve. Its been about 10-12 years and he is still going strong on it. I too would worry about the bumps on blood thinner. Its just too scary to worry about that. Please know we are thinking of you all! Sending hugs and prayers!
Praying that Owen and his doctors "rot it" as your strong little man would say!
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