We just received the call that Brooke has been put on the heart/lung machine (bypass). Opening her chest took much longer than anticipated, as she had a great deal of scar tissue surrounding her heart and sternum from her previous surgery. The position of her heart within her chest is also almost directly under her sternum in the middle of her chest, instead of on the left side. The surgeon had to be extremely careful when opening her chest, so it took a little more than 4 hours to get in to her heart to begin the Fontan procedure.
Please pray with us as Brooke's heart is now technically "stopped", and the heart/lung machine is providing her organs with oxygenated blood. We are praying she will be able to be off of bypass as soon as possible- the less time spent on the bypass machine the better! The surgeon is now grafting the "tunnel" through her heart that will take the unoxygenated blood from her lower extremities and deliver it directly to the lungs to help relieve pressure from Brooke's heart! Please pray with us that this part of the surgery will go through with no complications!!!
We will update when we know she is off bypass. Thank you for your prayers- they mean so much!
Praying MUCH for you guys! Found your blog through my friend, Laine. We also have 2 New Day boys...we, too, will be having big surgery for them in August. And, do I see that you are in Birmingham??? We are too!
ReplyDeleteMany Prayers,
Nikki