We are still waiting to get a few questions answered regarding Elijah's upcoming surgery on the 25th (next Friday, yikes), but here's what we (sort of) know:
The little man weighs 11 lbs now, so that is a very good thing. The bigger the boy, the better recovery will most likely be. Everyone keeps asking us how long recovery will be and we really don't know. It depends on whether or not there are complications during surgery and many other factors that we won't know till the time gets here. From what we've read, a miracle recovery and get-home time would be ~5 days. A more likely scenario would be ~2-3 weeks. As for how long the surgery itself will take, I think I remember hearing approximately 6 hours.
We are hoping to be able to talk with the surgeons before next Friday to get some of our questions answered (apparently they are important people and have other things going on :). We are still assuming the surgery will be done here in Mpls, as opposed to being in CA. Eli's cardiologist promised us that he'd get his info to both surgeons and determine who would be best able to perform this surgery, so I'm pretty sure we would have heard by now if we were traveling to CA.
We are pretty sure that Elijah's chest will need to stay open for a few days post-operation. This is one of the things we'd like to ask the surgeons, but I'm pretty sure this is the case (has to do with swelling). Another question we have is what the success rate for the surgery is. His cardiologist was throwing around mid-80% numbers the last time we talked, so that would be good to know going in. I had a dream last night that the Stanford surgeon, Dr. Hanley, told me he gave Elijah a 70% chance to get through the surgery successfully. Let's hope it is higher than that!
What we do know for sure is that going into this, we have a healthy baby (who will probably weigh 12 lbs by then) and that is going to weigh hugely on his side. That along with all the prayers that people have been graciously sending his way. PLEASE....we ask you all to send more prayers Elijah's way! Pray for NO complications, a completely successful surgery and that we can take him home quickly. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Your prayers have worked wonders already. I have no doubt that miracles can happen.....
3 comments:
Megan, Dan, & Elijah,
Hi I’m Mike King, Matthew’s dad. Your postings are hauntingly familiar. I am very thankful that your little prophet is 11lbs. and breathing on his own. That will go a long way towards a speedy recovery. As you know from Matthew’s blog my wife, Terri, and I have been through many of the same trials that you will soon encounter. We couldn’t possibly share all of our experiences and advice in a single comment. Please feel free to call us at home, (702) 253-0033. God bless the three of you for your strength and faith.
The Kings
Hello,
This is Terri,
Matthew King's mommy ...
My husband just called me and told me about your comment on Matthew's blog....
I am so sorry you are having to go thru this with your little baby ... It was such a shock for us when Matthew was diagnosed w/ this defect... he was four days old when we found out. He was 2 months premature and that made it kind of tough for him ... had he been full term, things would have gone much smoother for him (and us.)
Here is my e~mail..
tigggrr37@aol.com
if you want to be in touch.
We will most certainly keep you all in our thoughts and prayers.
I will be back to check on your little guy.
Big heart hugs,
Terri King
Oh, I wanted to say...
WE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE DR. FRANK HANLEY! He is amazing.
He is a world renowned pediatric heart surgeon ... he actually pioneered and developed the "Unifocalization" surgery that Matthew had. The defect your son and our son has is pretty rare... and he does about 75 of these specific cases a year...
Not only did we love Dr. Hanley..
we loved all the staff at LPCH at Stanford.... Matthew could not have gotten better care!
He had one on one nursing care the entire time...
and the nurses and respiratory therapists in the CVICU treated us like family. I know a few other families that had Dr. Hanley...
a family from L.V. flew up to have their baby at Stanford so Dr. Hanley could do the surgery right after baby was born.
Feel free to call us or I can call you if you want more information.
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