18 Sep Transplant
I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to update. I know that many of you were waiting to hear about the wean. The short answer is that it didn’t happen, and we now are actively awaiting a heart transplant. As we said before, an echo is performed to watch the heart’s function as the ECMO is reduced. When they looked at his heart first, there was a large clot on the ventrical septum (the muscle separating the 2 bottom chambers of the heart) that had expanded and pushed the ventricles into tiny slivers. This is something that none of the surgeons at CMC have ever seen. Even if the clot were to reduce, the remaining ventricles could not function. The only option now is to find a healthy, compatible new heart for Keegan. He is at the top of the regional transplant list and has first priority over a donor heart. This is due to his size, the fact that he’s on ECMO, and that we listed him as ABO compatible. Babies through around 9 months do not recognize blood type, so Keegan can accept a heart of any type. The “comfort zone” for being on ECMO is around 2-3 weeks if he retains good functioning of other organs. As long as he remains neurologically and renally stable, we could theoretically push past that time frame. Right now, PLEASE PLEASE pray for a heart within the next 2 weeks. We don’t know what the Lord has in store for Keegan, but we have offered him up for the Lord to heal and comfort. Psalm 138 is the “Hymn of a Greatful Heart.” In it we pray, “Lord, your love endures forever. Never forsake the work of Your hands!”