Who: Andrew and Emily, again. (Hi!)
What: Updating this blog, likely with assistance from Wes’s Aunt Sarah, again.
Where: Boston Children’s Hospital, again.
Why: Update our family and friends on Wes’s upcoming short trip to Boston for a cardiac catheterization.
When: We travel to Boston on Sunday, October 4 and will be returning home on Wednesday, October 7.
Wes: Wesley Ryan is now a six-year-old first grader. He is funny, hard-working, and particular. Self-confidence and pride abound, as do compassion and a willingness to share literally anything he has. His world completely revolves around his older brother…and snacks…and gum. He loves Lego and helping. He still loves being in water, does a mean cannonball, and is surprisingly good with flippers and a full-face snorkeling mask. There’s always a song in his head and his knack for the lyrics is probably helped by his amazing memory. The highlight of any day is catching him dancing and singing along with whatever current obsession is on repeat. We could go on but would never be able to capture all that he is. We just shake our heads wondering where on Earth he came from, amazed at our good fortune that he is part of our family.

A little more about this trip: The need for a procedure is not a surprise. We were told 5 years ago that the typical timeline is 5-8 years, though for some reason we just assumed we’d get to 8 years, maybe even 10. Wes has been seeing his cardiologist only annually since 3 years post-op. One thing Dr. Kamenir has been keeping an eye on is the difference in pressure from one side of Wes’s homograph conduit to the other – it has been increasing over the past couple years. (During his prior surgery the homograph was installed from his right ventricle to his pulmonary artery to bypass the pulmonary valve stenosis.) At this year’s June appointment the pressure differential had reached a point where we should figure out what’s causing it – there could be scar tissue or some calcification of the homograph. It’s not something that will get better on its own – a little investigation was only going to be a matter of “when,” not “if.” The most likely scenario is that the cardiologists will install a stent through the catheterization to ease the pressure. We know (though it lives FAR from the front of our minds) that at some point another surgery will be necessary to change out the conduit to a larger, fresh one, but a stent now would let us delay that a couple more years. So here we go…