Here we go!

Bodie was wheeled down to the OR 10 minutes ago. 

They'll place all of lines, and get him ready for surgery.

We should get our next update around 9pm, once the procurement team has laid eyes on the donor heart and confirmed that it's a good heart for Bodie.

So please pray fiercely:

1. Pray that this heart is indeed the perfect heart for Bodie.

2. Pray for Bodie's heart, brain and all of his organs - this will be a very long complicated surgery, and we need a hedge of protection around his entire body. He will be on bypass for a considerable amount of time, with all of its attendant risks of clots, brain bleeds and strokes.

3. Pray for wisdom for all parties involved, particularly the surgeon. Going from a Fontan to a biventricular heart is an incredibly complex surgery. By the time someone has gone through the Fontan, their entire cardiac physiology has been rerouted and things are connected totally different places. So a fair amount of reconstruction of pulmonary arteries and veins has to take place just for a Fontan patient to accept a new heart. Pray for steady hands for everyone involved.

4. Pray for Bodie's body to accept the new heart, and the heart to accept Bodie's body. Bodie's body is used to a very different circulation, and the new heart, particularly the right ventricle, is going to be asked to do something different than it did in the donor's body. So it's going to take both time for both Bodie's body and the heart to get used to one another. Please pray they get along quickly!

5. Pray for Dusk, Sierra and I as we sit through the hours of surgery (he isn't likely to be back in the ICU before tomorrow morning at 8 or 9am). We have a LONG night ahead of us, and it's easy to let the fears and anxieties control us. Please pray for peace for all of us. 

6. Finally, please please pray for the donor family. As we wait with anticipation and hope, another family somewhere is experiencing their worst fears, and facing leaving the hospital without their dearly loved one. And they have made the most selfless decision. We are profoundly grateful, but recognizing the sadness and agony they are going through. Please wrap them in your prayers as you pray for Bodie tonight.

We'll update as the night progresses.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of how we dealt with the stress of this very precarious position we find ourselves in.

Dusk and his brother Paul prayed over Bodie this morning before Paul headed back to Denver (we actually got the call when Dusk was driving Paul to the airport) - we are so so grateful Paul was able to spend time with us the past few days!!!

Sierra made the cutest sign ever and we decorated his room in honor of his special heart day.

(Please note this is directed at the nurses and medical professionals doing things to Bodie that he won't like, not to the remaining single ventricle patients on the unit!)