Wednesday, August 14, 2013

It's Fontan Time!

As hard as it is to believe, it appears that Bodie's Fontan surgery is finally upon us. We got our confirmation call from scheduling this afternoon. We are on deck at 9am tomorrow morning. We're first case of the morning for our surgeon (always a good thing), but things start a little later on Thursday mornings (I assume because they do CT conference on Thursday mornings where they discuss all scheduled surgeries). So 9am is the "early" slot. 

We have to be at the hospital at 7 to allow for time for them to do a type match of his blood (because his pre-op was about 100 years ago at this point, they have to do a more updated match). And then, we should be on our way. 

We're nervous. We're scared. We don't want to have to put our sweet, silly, larger than life towheaded little boy under anesthesia for open heart surgery for the 4th time. It's hard to explain how much life is in this little boy, and putting him through something this risky is so scary. The complications from open-heart surgery are relatively rare, but the consequences are grave and life altering: stroke, cardiac arrest and blood clots are some of the big ones. It is inexplicable what it feels like to sign a form that lists those risks for a procedure involving your 3 year old.

We really don't want to do this. We would move mountains to avoid this. But we know this is Bodie's best shot at his heart working as well as it possibly can. And we've been ready for this surgery for a long time. We've been staring this surgery in the face ever since we first heard the term Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, when all I knew of this boy was his feisty kicks and rolls. As much as we don't want to scale this mountain, our desire to be over it trumps. So we'll do it. Tomorrow, we will hand him over to an anesthesiologist, who will hand him over to an incredible surgical team, to mend his heart once again.

Please pray.

Please pray ferverently.

Pray that surgery goes off without a hitch (we have known of kids to make it all the way into anesthesia pre-op before finding out surgery was canceled, so it's always a possibility).

Pray that they don't have too much difficulty getting through his scar tissue.

Pray that Dr. Starnes is able to do the repair quickly, with as little bypass time as possible.

Pray that they are able to determine, from looking at his heart surface, the best way to ablate the part of his heart causing the fast heartrates; and that they are able to do so without causing damage to other parts of his heart or lungs.

Pray that Bodie doesn't suffer any of the risks of being on bypass.

Pray that Bodie is able to be extubated in the OR (this is sort of an icing-on-the-cake prayer request; it's fine if he's not, but it'd sure be great in terms of a quicker recovery if they can extubate him quickly).

Pray that Bodie's body tolerates the Fontan physiology and his recovery is smooth; that we are able to manage his pain.

Pray for peace for Dusk, for Sierra and for me. You know that feeling like your skin is crawling and you have to get out of wherever you are? Yeah, that's what it's like in the surgical waiting area. And we'll be there for several hours tomorrow. It stinks. Please pray for God's Holy peace to transcend our pain, our fears, our misgivings. Help us to remember we are turning Bodie over to GOD's hands, not anyone else's, that NOTHING that is going to happen in the OR tomorrow will be unknown to Him.

Friends, tomorrow will be a long, scary day for us. 
Dusk and I are usually strong. But tomorrow, we will need you to intercede for us, to be on your knees asking for God's peace, for His grace, for His strength for our son and for our family. This is when you come alongside us, pick us up and carry us with your ferverent prayers.

We'll update tomorrow as we are able. Thank you, in advance, for covering Bodie, and our family, in your prayers.

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6 comments:

  1. I've been praying endlessly for you guys. I hope the surgery is successful and I hope the recovery is as smooth as possible for our little fighter. I'm so proud of him, and many prayers to you, Dusk, and Sierra too. Love you all!!!

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  2. Will be praying for your beautiful family tomorrow!!

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  3. Praying for you all, entrusting you to Our Father and praying that His peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. You guys can do this, we believe in you! Know we will be standing beside you in prayer the whole way. WIth much love, Mike and Peggy

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  4. My sweet boy, my Bodie. We are praying for your faithfully. We pray for your mommy, daddy, and amazing sister, Sierra as well. God is with you, my sweet and I pray that you continue to be His Blessing and our Amazement! I love you more than I can say. I wish I could remove this particular event (the surgery) out of your lives... but I pray that you all are free of fear and free of pain. HE love you and so do we. Be blessed, my Bodie. God be with you. You have all of our love and support. You are my little miracle! xoxoxooxoox: auntie Nairi and family.

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  5. amy, i just wrote out a ton of prayers to you all but it did not publish. please know that my heart is right there with you all and i am sending you tons of love and grace and ease and victory. bodie, you can do this.

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  6. I will be praying for your family tomorrow. God brought you to mind today as I was driving the tractor doing hay, of all things. Prayed for your mamma's heart. The waiting is hard. Praying now that you get some sleep before your big day...because we know you aren't going to get it sleeping in the hospital! ;-)
    Angie

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