Surgery Date Scheduled...

Dear All,

Thanks all for the prayers for us and Malachi! We met with the Heart Surgeon, Dr. Philips, yesterday (April 19th). Malachi is scheduled for a pre-fontan Cath on Tuesday, May 25th, and Heart Surgery will be at 8 am the next day, Wednesday, May 26th. (So no sleep for us the night before major surgery!)

Malachi's surgery will involve removing any scar tissue that has developed since the last surgery (which took a long time to remove last time), they will attach his inferior vena cava to his pulmonary artery(this involves using the side of his heart to "build" the artery, and putting in a gortex patch to create a wall for his heart), they will ligate his "blind pouch", they will open up his Pulmonary artery and cut out the stents that were placed in during his prior Caths (it is possible that the Cath doctor will need to come in and put in another stent due to the stenosis (narrowing) of the artery) , 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 building 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.

So our prayer specifics are:

- That Malachi will not get sick at all before surgery.
- Wisdom for all involved: Dr. Philips the Heart Surgeon, Janet the CRNA, Dr. Naguib the Anesthesiologist, and all other techs, nurses, and healthcare professionals. (It helps that Philip has the "inside" on everyone, so we can kind of "request" who we want!)
- Flawlessness of all the machinery and cleanliness of the surgical tools.
- Strength as the day approaches! We are not looking forward to going down this road again!
- A quick recovery and NO infections or complications!!!

I understand it is a lot of confusing information. We have a "drawing" the surgeon did, so we are more than willing to give a detailed walk through, if you are interested.

Also, we are going to be ordering prayer bracelets for Malachi again. We will have them to distribute, but are limited on the supply, so we will be giving them out on a first come first serve basis!

We have been encouraged by so many of you in so many ways. You will never know how thankful we are to have such a loving group of family, friends, and Church Family. Thank you for your willingness to "suffer alongside us!" We are confident that our Great God will continue to take care of Malachi, and we look forward to being through with one of the hardest parts of his journey. We were reading the other evening through his journal and remembering back to the rough start he had. We were encouraged to see how much our Lord has brought him through! We know that He loves him so much and hurts right along side us for Malachi! What an amazing God we serve!

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