Preparation for Surgery #3

I haven't posted in awhile as you can tell. Life has been normal with us and nothing big to report. We saw Matthew's cardiologist yesterday and received a glowing report. His heart function is great and no issues. He has a cold and his oxygen saturations levels remained 80% which was wonderful to see. They have scheduled his heart cath for Tuesday, May 11th. This will give them a plan (map) for surgery. They will take pictures and some blood samples to evaluate and check for leaky valves. One concern is Matthew's coarctation, if they find that it is narrowing than they will open it up with a balloon dialation during the cath. The other thing they look for is called collaterals which are veins that the heart or lungs grow to try and compensate for the low oxygen saturations. If the collaterals are bigger they will put coils in them during the cath. All the intricate details of the heart has me amazed that people think this happens by chance and not by God.

We had 2 doctor appointments, an EKG, and an echo and Matthew did very well. He has very little patience for anything related to a doctor's office or hospital but yesterday he was very cooperative. Let's hope he is starting to get use to this. He did tell Dr. Hasselman, "NO Doctor". Luckily, Dr. Hasselman didn't take it personally.

If everything goes well for Matthew's heart cath then surgery will be late June or early July. We are going back to Disney World in June with Craig's brothers and their families. It will be so nice to have the family getaway before our whirlwind begins. I'm taking a leave of absence from work June 1st to October 1st. Out sitter is retiring and it will be way to hard to balance work with the hospital time and recovery. This will give me the ability to be totally focused on Matthew and Taylor.

Please keep Matthew in your prayers on May 11th and for the doctor's wisdom as they prepare him for surgery. I'm so ready to have this surgery done and behind us but I'm also sick to my stomach about it. We are trying not to worry and just enjoy today with him. We will keep you updated as we go through each procedure and I will update regularly as we are entering this new but all too familiar phase of our lives!

Have a wonderful spring and enjoy the sunshine!!