Malachi Surgery Rescheduled for the Spring...

I wanted to update everyone on the latest with Malachi. We met with his Cardiologist, Dr. Teske, yesterday, October 20th. We had our list of questions and he took his time answering them all, very thoroughly.

Malachi had his initial check-up. His oxygen saturations are right within range where they want them to be, his coloring looks good, and he is feeling better. With all of those things, Dr. Teske said that he felt that it would be best for Malachi to wait and have his heart surgery in the Spring. (Probably sometime in May.) This would get him through cold and flu season, and keep him out of the hospital.

He will see Malachi again in April, unless something arises before then. They will do a sedated echocardiogram on him, to get good pictures of his heart for Dr. Phillips, the surgeon. They will see him again, for a check-up, and then get him scheduled for surgery sometime in May.

We felt very at peace about the decision. We have been praying for guidance for all of Malachi's specialists, especially his heart doctors. We are completely fine with waiting. We are still going to work very hard at keeping Malachi healthy, but are glad we don't have to be quite as cautious!

We are so thankful to everyone who has prayed for us and encouraged us in so many ways! We are blessed beyond words!

Trusting in HIS timing,
April for all

Romans 8:28

What is to Come...

Dear All,

We wanted to let everyone know Malachi's heart surgery date of Tuesday, November 10th, 2009. He will be the first case at 8:00 am.

We met with Dr. Philips today, and he was very nice. We are very comfortable with him and appreciate his humbleness. Malachi's surgery will involve:
(1) removing any scar tissue that has developed since the last surgery (which took a long time to remove last time);
(2) they will attached his inferior vena cava to his pulmonary artery;
(3) they will ligate his "blind pouch";
(4) they will open up his Pulmonary artery and graft in artificial tissue to make the artery bigger;
(5) and they will remove the PA band that was left after his last surgery.

The surgery is very invasive and is estimated to last 8 - 9 hours, due to the rebuilding of the artery, and removal of scar tissue. There is also a greater risk of developing fluid in his lungs, due to being on a heart/lung bypass machine for so long. Dr. Philips did tell us that he leaves a hole on the right side of Malachi's Atrium that helps his lungs adjust to the pressure change, and this also helps with fluid in his lungs.

Malachi is estimated to be in the ICU for 3 - 4 days after surgery, and then he will go up to the heart floor (C5) after that. We are anticipating at least a week long stay in the hospital, possibly two weeks. We also found out that any type of respiratory infection, cold, or any other infection will delay the surgery about 6 weeks. So our biggest prayer is that Malachi will not get sick at all before surgery.

It was a lot of overwhelming information. It is hard to think of having to walk down this road again, but we are trusting that our Lord is taking care of us once again. Malachi will have so much to share someday, of our Great God's Protection. We are so blessed and honored to get to be his parents. Thanks for praying for us, we appreciate it more than you will ever know. We love you all!

In His Loving Hands,
April for all
Psalm 56:3-4