Fontan Update

12:00 Noon - or so. The nurse in charge of updating us found us in our waiting room and greeted us with a smile. (Always a good sign.) She informed us that Declan was off of bypass and the were working on getting him ready to take him up to the ICU. We were thrilled. She said they were able to get him off bypass quicker than they thought and he had done well.  That was definitely a call for more smiles and happy tears!

A short time later our surgeon came and gave us an update and summary. He said the construction of the "lateral tunnel" went well. No real issues. As we knew would be the case from the catheter procedure, there was indeed some "junctional" heart rhythm, so they had to pace his heart with an external "pacer" (like a pace maker) to ensure the signals telling when the heart to beat had the correct timing/sequence.  They say this is common with this procedure because the spot on the heart that initiates the electrical impulses is often "irritated" with the nearby grafting of the tunnel. But since he has a bit of history of a juctional rhythm, they have to watch it more closely to see if they need to put permanent pacer wires in for a potential future pace-maker. But just a "wait and see" for now. They also think the "hole" they put in the tunnel as a "pressure relief" may have closed, which "may or may not be worrisome" - another wait and see. If it is indeed closed they may have to go in later to open it back up but leaning more towards a "no" for now. Just have to see how his body responds.

Most of those potential "unknowns" we knew about going into it and expected so we were thrilled at the update. So after a few additional hours in the waiting room we were allowed into the ICU. This was the other part I was dreading - what would he look like. After his first two heart surgeries, his initial appearance left us a tearful wreck. But we were pleasantly surprised today that he looked relatively close to our cute little Declan we love so much. Not nearly as puffed up from fluids and very much recognizable. We spent hours talking to nurses and doctors, peppering each new victim with questions as they would enter the room for their evaluations.

The plan is hopefully tonight to wean him off the oxygen and pull out the breathing tube to see how he breaths on his own. But thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers. And all Declan's supporters wearing red (or mostly red) - we love it! It is so much fun to see everybody supporting him - THANK YOU!!!!