Well... James did not have his Fontan Operation yet, but we have it scheduled.
After Wednesdays visit to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston we got it finalized that James (now 7 years old) will have the Fontan Operation at Texas Children’s Hospital. We had a consultation with the surgeon Dr. Heinle to explain the whole procedure and the scheduling team to get everything planned out.
We are going down to Houston in the end of the month and will meet with the team on August 1st for pre op. After his surgery he will be recovering in ICU for 24-48 hours. He will have drainage tubes from the heart making sure no fluid build up. He will remain at the Hospital for 7-10 days (until drainage tubes can be removed) and we will stay down in Houston for another week or so after being released. When James comes home he will have to stay home from school and away from physical activities for about 6 weeks (making sure his breast bone heals up).
The reason James did not have the surgery yet is because he had a few more complications at birth and has had high pressures in his heart, which could make this surgery very high risk and could cause other issues after the surgery. With help from our local cardiologist (Dr. Lemler) new medicines, and James himself, things have changed. Last heart catheterization he did in the middle of March this year, they saw his numbers (pressure) had gone down and the team at Texas Children’s Hospital finally said he would be ready for the surgery. He is still a high risk patient, but they all agree it is the next step for him. The goal of the third surgery (Fontan) is to disconnect his Inferior Vena Cava from his heart (No more oxygen poor blood) and connect it directly to the Pumonary Artery. After the Glenn operation, the oxygen poor and oxygen rich blood was mixing in the heart preventing oxygen levels to get as high. When the blood comes back from the lungs it will be oxygen rich and the right side will then pump it out to the body. In James case the surgeon will leave a fenstration, which means, a small hole from the Inferior Vena Cava will be left open to the heart, allowing a small amount of blood to come back to the heart if the pressure gets too high. This can close on its own if blood just passes by, or made bigger if needed. After this procedure his oxygen levels will be higher and his energy will increase.
After Wednesdays visit to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston we got it finalized that James (now 7 years old) will have the Fontan Operation at Texas Children’s Hospital. We had a consultation with the surgeon Dr. Heinle to explain the whole procedure and the scheduling team to get everything planned out.
We are going down to Houston in the end of the month and will meet with the team on August 1st for pre op. After his surgery he will be recovering in ICU for 24-48 hours. He will have drainage tubes from the heart making sure no fluid build up. He will remain at the Hospital for 7-10 days (until drainage tubes can be removed) and we will stay down in Houston for another week or so after being released. When James comes home he will have to stay home from school and away from physical activities for about 6 weeks (making sure his breast bone heals up).
The reason James did not have the surgery yet is because he had a few more complications at birth and has had high pressures in his heart, which could make this surgery very high risk and could cause other issues after the surgery. With help from our local cardiologist (Dr. Lemler) new medicines, and James himself, things have changed. Last heart catheterization he did in the middle of March this year, they saw his numbers (pressure) had gone down and the team at Texas Children’s Hospital finally said he would be ready for the surgery. He is still a high risk patient, but they all agree it is the next step for him. The goal of the third surgery (Fontan) is to disconnect his Inferior Vena Cava from his heart (No more oxygen poor blood) and connect it directly to the Pumonary Artery. After the Glenn operation, the oxygen poor and oxygen rich blood was mixing in the heart preventing oxygen levels to get as high. When the blood comes back from the lungs it will be oxygen rich and the right side will then pump it out to the body. In James case the surgeon will leave a fenstration, which means, a small hole from the Inferior Vena Cava will be left open to the heart, allowing a small amount of blood to come back to the heart if the pressure gets too high. This can close on its own if blood just passes by, or made bigger if needed. After this procedure his oxygen levels will be higher and his energy will increase.
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