Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Heart Cath Day

Just quick update. Shane is currently receiving his heart catheterization. The staff was wonderful at making Shane and the rest of the family feel very comfortable and at ease. The morning started early with us needing to be at the hospital at 7 am. Since we were staying at the Yawkey House, we needed to walk about 1/2 mile to the hospital. We woke up to rain but thankfully it had cleared by the time we had to leave. It was clear that Shane had no idea what was about to happen and showed no fear throughout the prep process. He was in great spirits for a child who usually wakes up slow and really doesn't interact well for the first hour of the morning. Susie says that Olivia wakes up saying "hello world, here I am" where as Shane wake ups saying "where's the coffee?" Today was pretty amazing in his response to the hospital staff....he has come a long way in his trust and fear issues with medical staff in just a short few months. The surgical staff continues to amaze us with their compassion and ability to work with children. Our anesthetist, Dr. Hickey, is also Chief of anesthesiology for the hospital. He said that he had work with performing heart surgery for children in Shanghai with Project Hope (1985-1994) and also helped design the current children's hospital in Shanghai. He said he has expertise is having five children of his own! Ha! Dr. Hickey loves what he does and said it is a privilege to help bring healing to little ones! : ). What a privilege for us to meet the wonderful staff who bring healing everyday to many!

Shane dress for his procedure
Shane and Livie blow bubbles while we wait to get started--the staff are wonderful
We are now in the wait mode...it should take about 2 hours. The team is hoping to not only scope out and test his heart, but also close off some of the collateral arteries that his body has produced to overcome not having a traditional pulmonary artery to his heart. This is some of the prep work they would like to accomplish prior to his heart surgery next Monday.

10:30 am. We just heard from the nurse....he is doing great...they are taking tons of pictures...we are expecting another call in an hour for the next update.

 

Thank you for your prayers

 

3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear all is well and they are treating you so well. Give Olivia and Shane a big hug from "Geen", as Shane says. Love you all and continue to pray for you.

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  2. Prayers for Shane and our travel buddies as you wait. Tom and I have been there several times. It's so great to know there's a larger healer watching over all of it.

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  3. thank you all for your prayers...we are humbled!

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