A Short Update

Andrew and Emily

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…

hungry wes
As we wrote this update, Doris the incredible nurse liaison, came over to share the good news that Wes is off the heart/lung bypass and they’re warming him up. His heart is beating again! Doris was very pleased with this news, especially because we thought it would be a couple more hours to get to this point. We may see the surgeon in as little as an hour for a recap of the procedure and not long after be able to go see Wes.
We’ll send one last update for the day after we return to the apartment tonight.
A Short Update

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