Family and Friends,
Here is an update on John and what we discussed with the Doctor yesterday at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA).
Let me start off by saying Thank you for your continued prayers for John. He is such a blessing, and we Thank God everyday for fulfilling his promise. When you see John run and play, you will never think twice he had open heart surgery when he was born. Johnny and I actually always joke that he has more energy than his older brother Garo. Although his initial surgery took care of the largest concerns, we see a Pediatric Cardiologist routinely to make sure down the road when John is older that his heart will function the way it should without working harder than it has to. Our Pediatric Cardiologist noticed a small narrowing by Johns aortic valve during one of Johns ultrasounds. This is the last valve of the heart before the oxygenated blood gets pumped to the body. This narrowing is causing more pressure on that blood flow than is needed and might be causing a small leak in that valve. Our visit yesterday with the Doctor at CHLA was to look into this narrowing. Their main concern right now is a piece of muscle, tissue, or 'membrane', as the doctor called it, that is narrowing the area of blood flow to the aortic valve. It is very close to the aortic valve and maybe even attached to it. This membrane piece has to come out and the only way to do it is through another open heart surgery. The problem with this membrane piece that is in front of the valve is that it can keep growing and attaching itself to the valve. That would be a major problem and a bigger problem to fix the valve at that point. The whole point of removing the membrane piece is to keep that valve safe and not have to replace his valve with a synthetic valve.
The doctor is going to speak to the surgeon who did the previous operation on John, about John's case and get his opinion as well. Nothing is set in stone yet but these were the things that were discussed.
The only thing we did decide on, is that John will need to do a cardiac cath to be able to get more information of how his heart is functioning and see it more clearly than the echogram's he has already done. This will be set up within the next few weeks. He will need to be put under for this procedure and we will be in the hospital for a day, hopefully going home the same day. We will stay overnight for one night at most if needed.
Once they get the results of the cardiac cath, John's case will be discussed in a room full of cardiologists and surgeons to decide what is the best step to proceed. This is where they might decide on surgery.
Please pray for our family as Johnny and I area a little bit drained from all of this. We need the Lord's strength and wisdom at this time. We are still hoping and praying for another miracle on John's life. We know that God will complete the work that he already started in John and we have full faith in that. We know John will be okay through all that will come at him. But, we are praying that John will not have to face another surgery. All things are possible through Christ and we believe that with all our heart, we have seen it first hand. Facing another surgery right now will be completely different for John than when he was 6 days old and had heart surgery. This time would be much harder because he is aware of everything yet can't understand all that will be happening around him. This is something I don't know if I'm ready to face as you can imagine. So we are just praying that God will work a miracle once again. We are waiting in prayer. We'll keep you updated.
~Ida
Here is an update on John and what we discussed with the Doctor yesterday at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA).
Let me start off by saying Thank you for your continued prayers for John. He is such a blessing, and we Thank God everyday for fulfilling his promise. When you see John run and play, you will never think twice he had open heart surgery when he was born. Johnny and I actually always joke that he has more energy than his older brother Garo. Although his initial surgery took care of the largest concerns, we see a Pediatric Cardiologist routinely to make sure down the road when John is older that his heart will function the way it should without working harder than it has to. Our Pediatric Cardiologist noticed a small narrowing by Johns aortic valve during one of Johns ultrasounds. This is the last valve of the heart before the oxygenated blood gets pumped to the body. This narrowing is causing more pressure on that blood flow than is needed and might be causing a small leak in that valve. Our visit yesterday with the Doctor at CHLA was to look into this narrowing. Their main concern right now is a piece of muscle, tissue, or 'membrane', as the doctor called it, that is narrowing the area of blood flow to the aortic valve. It is very close to the aortic valve and maybe even attached to it. This membrane piece has to come out and the only way to do it is through another open heart surgery. The problem with this membrane piece that is in front of the valve is that it can keep growing and attaching itself to the valve. That would be a major problem and a bigger problem to fix the valve at that point. The whole point of removing the membrane piece is to keep that valve safe and not have to replace his valve with a synthetic valve.
The doctor is going to speak to the surgeon who did the previous operation on John, about John's case and get his opinion as well. Nothing is set in stone yet but these were the things that were discussed.
The only thing we did decide on, is that John will need to do a cardiac cath to be able to get more information of how his heart is functioning and see it more clearly than the echogram's he has already done. This will be set up within the next few weeks. He will need to be put under for this procedure and we will be in the hospital for a day, hopefully going home the same day. We will stay overnight for one night at most if needed.
Once they get the results of the cardiac cath, John's case will be discussed in a room full of cardiologists and surgeons to decide what is the best step to proceed. This is where they might decide on surgery.
Please pray for our family as Johnny and I area a little bit drained from all of this. We need the Lord's strength and wisdom at this time. We are still hoping and praying for another miracle on John's life. We know that God will complete the work that he already started in John and we have full faith in that. We know John will be okay through all that will come at him. But, we are praying that John will not have to face another surgery. All things are possible through Christ and we believe that with all our heart, we have seen it first hand. Facing another surgery right now will be completely different for John than when he was 6 days old and had heart surgery. This time would be much harder because he is aware of everything yet can't understand all that will be happening around him. This is something I don't know if I'm ready to face as you can imagine. So we are just praying that God will work a miracle once again. We are waiting in prayer. We'll keep you updated.
~Ida
RSS Feed
