Taylor Update - June 25, 2009

We checked into Fairfax this morning at 6 and after Taylor was prepped and readied for the procedure, she was taken back at about 8. We were able to be with her in the procedure room while the anesthesiologist sedated her. We met her back in the recovery room at about 10:15 and then met with Dr. Shen, her surgeon.

Surgery will proceed as planned tomorrow morning. She is the first case and will be taken down to the OR around 7 AM. We are now in her room on the pediatrics floor and she is sleeping peacefully in her crib after having gulped down an 8 ounce bottle! She wasn't able to eat after 2 AM, so she was definitely hungry!!!

Taylor will have several parts of her cardiovascular anatomy changed tomorrow. This is the first
part of the Fontan. From Wikipedia:

The Fontan is usually done as a two staged repair.
The first stage, also called a Bidirectional Glenn procedure or Hemi-Fontan (see also Kawashima procedure), involves redirecting oxygen-poor blood from the top of the body to the lungs. That is, the pulmonary arteries are disconnected from their existing blood supply. The superior vena cava (SVC), which carries blood returning from the upper body, is disconnected from the heart and instead redirected into the pulmonary arteries. The inferior vena cava (IVC), which carries blood returning from the lower body, continues to connect to the heart.

At this point, patients are no longer in that delicate balance, and the single ventricle is doing much less work. They usually can grow adequately, and are less fragile. However, they still have marked hypoxia (because of the IVC blood that is not fed into the lungs to be oxygenated), and the ventricle is still doing more work than expected. Therefore most patients are referred for another surgery.


We will cross that bridge when we come to it when she is older. Dr. Shen told us that he will also enlarge her ASD (atrial septal defect) or hole in the septum between the atria to allow for the oxygen rich and poor blood to mix more easily and reduce the load on her heart in general. While he feels that she should do very well, he did review all of the possible complications. We are thinking positive and praying that her surgery goes just as expected and without issues.

We greatly appreciate the ongoing prayers and support. Please continue to pray for Taylor and our family as we navigate the coming days and weeks of her surgery and recovery.

An update will be posted tomorrow as well!