Before Surgery- no chest scars

Before Surgery- no chest scars

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The surgery is done!  They just finished stitching Luke back up.  We will see him in a few more minutes.  All told surgery lasted about 6 1/2 hours.  Most of the time (3 hours) was just cutting through all of the scar tissue.

The surgeon said that Luke has hundreds of collaterals all over his heart.  But hopefully with this new blood flow they will decrease in size.  Luke had to be paced for a while as they were taking him off the bypass machine because of a slow heart rate.  This could be because of the anesthetics or it could be indicative of problems with the SA Node.  If that is the case he will get a pace maker some day.  I sure hope not (10-15% of kids with the Fontan get a pacer).


Here is the gortex conduit that they attached to the inferior vena cava and the right pulmonary artery.  It is a 20 gauge size, flexible, and stretchable.  See the small hole at the top.  That is the size of the fenestration or small hole going through the synthetic inferior vena cava to the atrium, acting as a release valve for high pressures.

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