With all of the adoption fun going on, I've been negligent in informing everyone about Sam's surgery. We have been getting a lot of questions about the surgery, so I wanted to answer a few here.
At the end of July, Sam has another appointment with his cardiologist. At that time, his defibrillator will be "interrogated" and we will learn if the lead (wire) to his heart that has not been reading properly is still NOT reading properly.
That is to say, the number should be higher than 8 and it has steadily lowered to a number 1.8 and 2.3 on our last visits.
This means a surgeon needs to go back inside of Sam, take the lead off of his heart and find another location that "reads" a higher number.
There are many reasons for a lead reading low numbers: scar tissue, growth of the heart so the electrical current isn't flowing in the same spot anymore or even is dislodging a little (highly unlikely in our case).
He is NOT sick today. This surgery is merely to fix the lead, not to fix anything related to his condition. The main concern is that if this lead is not reading properly, his heart could go into an arrhythmia and the defibrillator might miss it.
If, at his next appointment, the lead is still reading low (it literally would be a miracle if it doesn't), he will have surgery on August 18th first thing in the morning.
We need to get this done before cold and flu season begins and we feel August is a good time.
This will be an extremely painful surgery. He will be on an epidural for two days. He has a minimum hospital stay of five days. We will be at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill for this surgery. Bill will be arriving from China on August 16th at RDU, the same day I will drive there with Sam and Carolina. IF his last surgery is any indication on how his defibrillator will handle this, we may have a problem.
His last surgery produced many inappropriate shocks within a short period of time, just as he was being moved to his bed.
So, please be in prayer that God will perform a miracle in Sam and his lead would read a higher number. However, if God chooses not to perform that miracle, please be in prayer for Sam starting today that he would not feel as much pain as they are telling us he will. Pray for us as we juggle Carolina and Sam at the hospital and pray for Bill to get over his jet lag quickly so he will be of use to me.
Questions? Post them and I will answer as best as I can.
1 comment:
I have been praying for Sam's surgery since the day you told me what was going on with his leads. I will certainly continue to lift him up in prayer, as well as the rest of your family.
I have really enjoyed seeing the pictures of Sam and Carolina. What precious kids you have!
Much love,
Karen
Post a Comment