Details about the surgery

Tommy's heart surgery will be February 22nd at 7:30 in the morning. He will go see his cardiologist the morning before and then go have tests run at the hospital to make sure he is good and healthy for surgery. We met with the surgeon today and got all of our questions answered, and he said if we think of more we'll meet several people the day before surgery who will be able to answer them as well.

Basically what they will do is go in and take out a little piece of the sack that holds the heart and set it aside to use to patch up the hole in Tommy's heart. They'll sew it in there to fit perfectly, just like you'd patch a hole in your jeans. The patch itself will fuse to the heart but will not grow or stretch, the heart will grow around it and keep it from detaching in the future. The cardiologist will be there during the surgery and will do an echo before surgery and right afterwards to make sure that it is successful and there is no leakage. The surgery will be over around 11:30 AM or 12:00 PM. Tommy is expected to be on the vent and sedated for a few hours after surgery (give or take). They will keep his pain controlled and keep him comfortable. He will be in the ICU immediately after and should be there for 1-2 days. Overall his hospital stay should be 4-5 days.  The stitches in his chest will be absorbed, but he'll have a stitch or two that need to be removed from the drainage tube. Tommy should hopefully be in pretty good condition when we take him home - he can have regular baths or showers - we just can't completely submerse the incision (like if he were to go swimming in a pool).  We cannot pick him up under his arms for 6 weeks, we have to kind of cradle-like pick him up, to prevent putting stress on his healing breast bone. But he can pull up and do anything he wants - we don't have to limit his activity b/c he won't do anything that causes himself pain.

The surgeon was very nice and we feel very comfortable after our visit with him. I know I've said it before but we appreciate everyone's encouragement and prayers. I've been asked a lot how I'm feeling about this and handling and at this point I'm feeling a lot better and a lot less overwhelmed than I was before, and I attribute that to all those praying for us and ultimately to God's goodness. I'm sure I will get scared and nervous as it gets closer and closer, but for now I will enjoy not worrying about it! Thanks for loving our family and keeping up with our sweet boy!