Next Surgery Date

Hello all: just wanted to let everyone know we have a date for Brandt's next surgery--it will be December 8th, contingent on continued stability of his heart and lung stats, and the results of the hearth catheterization. The heart cath will be November 18 in Charleston, and I will plan to post results from that but probably not much else between now and then. We plan to enjoy every minute of holding and cuddling this little fellow as much as possible between now and then. We also plan to restrict his outings from the house due to the high risk involved during this flu season. In addition to his other regularly scheduled appointments I'm hassling with pulmonologist, insurance, pediatrician, and pharmacy departments to get his RSV shots scheduled--once a month throughout the flu season. This virus can be fatal to babies in general, but in particular to those with weakened heart and/or lung conditions. So our blessings and challenges continue, but without much change from week to week right now...we so appreciate everyone's continued prayer for this amazing little guy, and I will start the updates again when we have something more to report!

Scheduling Second Open Heart Surgery

Lovin' the Fall Sunshine!

What a weekend...week, whatever. In addition to Seth's surgery, Joel managed to scratch or cut his eye somehow. By Sunday I was going crazy from doling out meds and trying to encourage crying children. Glenn was very kind to watch all three of the invalids while I went to church, which was a big lift to my spirits.

I was hopeful Joel's eye was better, but Monday morning he was still having trouble opening it. I knew it would be a challenge to get him to the doctor and still be ready to take Brandt to the cardiologist. But I must say a huge hoorah for family...both my mom and Glenn's family are always so ready to help, and so after Joel's appointment and finding out his eye was most likely bruised and possibly lacerated, I dropped him at Glenn's parents and then picked Glenn up to head to the cardiologist office together.

Dr. Raunikar and his staff are just amazing...he took quite a bit of time going over different options and scenarios with us. Of course there are no guarantees in life, ever, and certainly not when dealing with half a heart being repaired to function as a single ventricle. But all in all, Brandt's condition is above average as his oxygen saturations and blood pressures continue stable. His echocardiogram did not show any change in the valve leakage, and so contingent on his heart catheterization results in November, Dr. Raunikar has requested a surgery date in early December for the bi-directional Glenn procedure. This will remove the shunt and create a direct path from for oxygenated blood to travel to the lungs from Brandt's pulmonary artery, if I'm understanding correctly. The heart cath will show if his lungs are developed/mature enough to support the new circulation without the current shunt. As far as growth, Brandt also stayed exactly at the 5th%, although Dr. Raunikar wants to me to continue to supplement his diet with formula whenever he's taking a bottle--it certainly won't hurt him and as before, we don't want him to be verging on underweight as he faces his next surgery.

While I know I expressed frustration to more than one person this past week about being sick of doctor visits, the flip side of that is we are so thankful for the amazing medical care available to us here, and doctors who genuinely care and work to help us make the best decisions for Brandt and our family!!