Sarah here… I just heard from Andrew and Emily who asked me to send a quick note. They’re back at the apartment and are getting some rest after what I can only imagine was an unbelievably long and difficult day.

Much to everyone’s relief (but not surprise) Wes is resting comfortably and doing great!

More updates to come tomorrow…

It’s 4:30 and Wes is still in surgery as expected. We were told 6-8 hours going in so things seem to be right on track. Doris, the nurse liaison has given us updates every hour or so, just as she said she would. The repairs are moving along but we don’t know much else. During the surgery Wes is on a heart/lung bypass machine so they can paralyze his heart to work on it, and we found out they cool his body down to around 55 degrees to reduce oxygen consumption and increase the safety of long surgery. As they wrap up they slowly raise his temperature back to normal and at some point his heart will begin to beat again. They will also do another echocardiogram to ensure the repairs are working as planned. When he is in the ICU they will come get us so we can see him but he will be sedated. One parent can stay in the room overnight but the nurses have suggested, since he’s sedated anyway, that we should take the opportunity to get some sleep away from the hospital.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Wes last night at dinner in our apartment. Obviously he was deeply affected by the anesthesia from his MRI and had almost no appetite…

The big day, surgery day, started off early. We had to be at the hospital by 7:00 so we left for the morning walk to the hospital at 6:30. We were checked in and after a short wait Nurse Maureen took us back to the pre-op holding area. This area was very busy with patients, families and nurses. Around 8:00 another wave of nurses and doctors arrived to meet their patients. Dr. Al, the anesthesiologist from yesterday’s MRI stopped by to say hi to Wes which meant he got a big smile. Another anesthesiologist came in to give him the oral sedative. We held and rocked him, Emily sang “Happy Birthday” per Henry’s suggestion before we left home, we gave him lots of kisses, and they took him in at 8:30.

We went back to the waiting area, checked in with the nurse liaison and then Dr. Emani stopped by. After reviewing the MRI, based on the aorta’s location, he’s decided to pursue the Nikaidoh procedure which will involve moving (translocating) the aorta. Dr. Emani also confirmed that a pacemaker will likely be needed, which we had been anticipating since our first meeting with him last August.

We grabbed breakfast at Brueggers before coming back to start the long wait. We will be updated every 90 minutes or as necessary. We’ll have multiple updates today so please check back.

As I was writing this update the nurse liaison came by to tell us the surgery officially began at 9:45.

Thank you all for following and for all of the kind thoughts and well wishes.