As clear as mud

When I arrived at the hospital this morning, the nurse told me that Josiah was booked for surgery tomorrow.  However, the nurse has already been told that he probably won't go for surgery tomorrow.  The fellow told me that there was a big debate in the meeting this morning about what needs to be done.  They know they need to fix the veins because there is high back pressure so they can't just fix the lung issue without fixing the veins.  The pulmonary veins collect behind the left-sided right atrium (he has two right atrium) before they go through the liver and back to the heart so these veins will be connected directly to the atrium in the Coles procedure.  One out of one hundred babies born have a congenital heart defect but only one percent of those have TAPVD (Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage).  The debate is whether or not to do the BT Shunt or the Glenn.  The former option would mean that the blood is being driven to the lungs by the ventricles whereas having the Glenn procedure would mean that the blood flows passively to the lungs.  Two cardiac surgeons are looking at the data available but there's not much data on kids with Josiah's complex heart.  We do know that they want to do surgery this week. 

Josiah had a good night and he's had a good day so far.  I'm not sure when his last episode was but they seem to be less frequent.  Hopefully we'll know more by the end of the day.  Graham is working from RMH.  I just called him to tell him the update.  The fellow said that the surgeons may want to meet with us later today but that will probably only happen if they make the decision.  We had a good sleep last night and we're feeling good.  We were able to Facetime Isaac this morning when he was eating his breakfast.  It was great to get the kisses he blew us to start the day.   

Thanks for all your prayers, support, and emails.  We're asking God to give the surgeons wisdom regarding the best surgery for Josiah.

Blessings,

Elizabeth