Atticus is doing so well since my last post. He's had no more seizures since the last post. His leg is almost completely healed now. His skin wounds are all healing nicely, and the large one on his chest that once require the wound-vac is now even uncovered and almost completely healed. Atticus has even been awake and alert, looking around the room and at his various toys. He can track things with his eyes, and God has even given me the great blessing of seeing him smile. In general, he's been on a constant upward swing in the road to recovery, and a testament everyday to the healing power of prayer and God's mercy.
However, the doctors have decided to go ahead with the next stage of his heart surgery (the Glenn Procedure). The problem is that Atticus has kind of gotten stuck in his healing process. He had another Cath procedure two weeks ago (which was completely complication free, thankfully!) and they had to balloon his Aorta, because there was a small narrowing, which was causing a bottleneck effect and causing him to have a lot of backflow of blood in his heart. They were hoping that this would also correct the problem he's been having with a lot of fluid build-up in his abdomen (due to the increased pressure and backflow of the heart). It slowed some of the fluid drainage, but it didn't solve the problem. The doctors also took the pressure measurements that they would need for the Glenn Procedure during this Cath. The surgeon, Dr Hsia, told me that Atticus is not an ideal candidate for this next procedure. The pressures in his heart and his pulmonary arteries are higher than they would like when they do this surgery. He's also younger than they normally perform this surgery, which is typically around 6 months old. However, it's a Catch 22. His pressures need to be lower for the surgery, but they don't think they'll get any lower unless he has this next surgery. Also, if they didn't go ahead with the surgery, he would have a constant drainage tube coming out of his abdomen for 3 more months, which greatly increase the risk of complication due to some sort of infection. Basically, Atticus' body is telling them that he needs the next surgery, but it's just going to be riskier. He is scheduled for the next surgery on this upcoming Tuesday, January 12th. It all seems very sudden, but I am hopeful that this will be the turning point for Atticus so that he can finally get strong enough to come home. He will also have a CT-Angio tomorrow to look at his Aorta, and so that the surgeons can get a good game plan for his upcoming surgery. It's nothing invasive; they just run some dye through his IV and take a CT Scan of his heart to get a good picture of it.
Please pray for Atticus, his surgeons, doctors, and nurses. Pray that God gives him the strength he needs to persevere through the surgery, and that he'll continue to improve and be able to come home soon. Please also pray for Robbie and myself that we can continue to be strong through these times. We always trust that God has a plan for Atticus and that He will never leave his side. God has already brought him through so much. Thank you for the prayers, the calls, the emails, the visits, the love, and the support. I thank God everyday for surrounding us with such wonderful people.
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