Surgery # 2 Here We Come . . .

Matthew had to go in for routine blood work yesterday so we were able to visit all of our PICU friends on Valentine's Day. Matthew took the staff some chocolate and a Valentine to thank them for all the special care that he has received over the past 3 months. It seemed so appropriate to thank them on Valentine's (heart) Day. We also ran into one of his old partner's in crime, Brennan. Brennan was born a few days before Matthew and the two of them recovered from their first surgeries in rooms next to each other. He was also there for a routine check up. We had a great visit and shared stories of all of the ups and downs over the past several weeks.

While we were there a couple of the nurses noticed Matthew's coloring was more blue and the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Kelly, noticed it too. She asked if we have noticed anything different with Matthew and I told her that in the past few weeks Matthew has started sweating when he cries. Kelly said it wasn't an emergency, but we should call his cardiologist, Dr. Hasselman, and let him know because he may want to do an echo at his appointment which was scheduled for next week. I called his office yesterday afternoon after Matthew had a couple more of the sweating episodes. Dr. Hasselman decided that he wanted to see Matthew this morning.

After examining him this morning Dr. Hasselman told us that he thinks Matthew is out growing his shunt and we need to start the scheduling process for surgery #2. Matthew's coloring looked better to us so we told Dr. Hasselman that he was making a liar out of us today. He laughed and said that we have been around Matthew too long and have gotten use to his blue cast because he was very blue today (you can see what we mean by "blue" in the above picture when you compare him to Taylor). His oxygen saturation seems to be falling into the 60's on a regular basis and that contributes to his coloring.

The plan is for the cardiologist office to call us Monday with a scheduled date for his heart catheterization (2 weeks out) and after the results of the heart cath are reviewed by the surgeon, we will schedule surgery. We're expecting surgery to be the middle of March or possibly sooner. We knew this was coming, but it makes our hearts sink to know that we are starting the process. We know that he needs this done sooner rather than later, but we are really enjoying our time with him at home now. Pray for our strength, it is going to be so hard to hand Matthew over on the day of surgery and sit back and wait several hours to see him again. His poor little chest will be cut right down the center of his existing scar and then there's the scary "tweaking" stage where they constantly adjust his meds for hours trying to make him stable.

We will update you Monday as to the date and time of his heart catheterization. Thank you all so much for your continued prayers. It is wonderful to know that prayers are being sent up on Matthew's behalf. God has been so good to us this far and we know that no matter what God is in control.
Love, Amy