Baby Maverick

Mav just got out of the cath lab. They were running behind today, so he didn't go in until around 4:15. Just to cut to the chase, Mav does need another surgery and they're going to do it Monday afternoon. The good news is it is clearly evident that this is what is causing his problems. They measured the pressure in the right ventricle (the chamber of the heart that pumps blood to the lungs) and it was 120% of his systemic pressure. It's supposed to be about 25% of his systemic blood pressure. His little heart was having to work very hard to get the blood through the narrowed area of his pulmonary artery and to his lungs. Dr. M says he'll go back in through his previous incision on his chest (it is another open heart surgery), and place a patch on the pulmonary artery to make it larger in diameter. This should allow the blood to flow out of the right side of his heart more freely, and alleviate the"backing up" of blood into his tissues. This should also help with his chest tube output. Dr. Mendeloff (the surgeon) and Dr. Kao (the cardiologist) were both very optimistic for Mav. They were glad that it was so obvious that this is what is causing his problems. Dr. M says Mav will have to go back on the pump (the bypass machine), but he won't have to stop his heart to do this surgery like he did with the switch. He says the actual time it will take him to do this should be only about 30 minutes (this doesn't include the time for anesthesia, getting him on the pump, or closing), and he says the mortality rate is around 2%. They fully expect Mav to get out of surgery and do much better and start losing some fluid fairly quickly. The cause of the narrowing is most likely due to scar tissue - which explains why he has been able to lose fluid and come off the vent in the past. The scar tissue has just slowly been forming in his pulmonary artery (where they did the switch) since the surgery and is now at a point where it's causing a problem. I hate for him to have to go through another open heart, but am encouraged that it seems like this is the answer we've been looking for. Their plan is to let him rest this weekend and try to get a little fluid off him. His BUN was down a little today (66) and his creatinine is holding steady at 0.5. My plan is to still go home tomorrow to see the kids and leave early Monday morning. His surgery won't take place until 1:00 or after. Dr. M has one surgery before Mav's, so that time is subject to change. Thank you all so much for your prayers. I'm so glad we have an answer. jc