The Surgery Moves On

The nurse just stopped by for an update. Bobby is stable and the surgery is uneventful from a surgeon's point of view. Bobby is on the heart/lung machine and his heart has stopped beating for the time being. They are currently closing his pulmonary artery shut - from now on, Bobby won't have blood flowing from his heart to his lungs.

Here's a link to a picture that will help explain what's happening.

http://www.childrensheartinstitute.org/educate/heartwrk/bloodflw.htm

The pulmonary artery is being sewn shut just before it forks to the right and left lung.

The next step is to insert a shunt that will connect the superior vena cava (carries blood away from his head) directly to the portion of the pulmonary artery that lies on the upper right of the heart. This blood will be sent to the right and left lungs and be oxygenated there.

For now, the inferior vena cava that carries blood from the bottom part of his body will continue to connect to his heart. But the blood won't get sent to the lungs - it will just be recirculated to his body. When he's older, it will be redirected. Until this happens, Bobby's oxygen saturation (the % of red blood cells that are carrying oxygen) will remain a little low - he will run at about 80%-85% saturation while a healthy person is closer to 95%-100%. He's been at this level all of his life and, well, you can see that it doesn't seem to be keeping the rosy off of his cheeks.

Thanks for all of the good thoughts! Its immensely helpful to know that you are with us.

The next update will be in a couple of hours.