13 Sep Surgery Update 4
We talked with the doctor again. He said that a suture did clip that valve. They were able to free that valve up. That was good news.Once they got his heart started again they were checking his oxygen saturation levels in various areas around the heart. The one place that the saturation of the blood should be the highest would be the flow from the lungs. It wasn’t as high as it needed to be. They feel like his lungs are working a little under capacity right now. They are deciding if they want to use a machine called the “Ecto” to help his heart and lungs do the work. They are also try to investigate why this might be the case. They would share the work load and as his heart and lungs got stronger they could wean him off the Ecto machine. No news if they will use this yet or not.In other news they did patch the hole in his heart. They did see a slight leak in his heart. Nothing to be alarmed about. The leak is common and as long as it stay small it will more than likely close over time. The pulmonary valve was not able to be saved. They were hoping to get a 5mm probe through it and were unable to. They could barely get a 3mm probe through it. They ended up removing the valve and spreading the artery with a patch. They knew this would probably be the case so it really isn’t a surprise.The Dr. said it will more than likely be another hour and a half before they brought him out of surgery. We will update when we get something new.
Thanks!
Gray