Heart Surgery #3

It's hard to believe it's been over two years since our last blog update on Owen. We knew from when we first found out about Owen's condition that this would be a step by step journey and he would never be "fixed", but for two years we have been enjoying a happy, normal life. Owen has overcome so many of the early obstacles thrown his way. He graduated quickly from physical and occupational therapy. He ate is way off of a feeding tube and had the feeding tube button removed from his abdomen just over a year after having it put in. He has hit all the appropriate milestones for his age and has even exceeded some, including his verbal skills. He loves seeing his family, reading books, going to the zoo, and playing with animal toys.

We were expecting Owen's 3rd Open heart Surgery sometime between the Fall of 2016 and the Summer of 2017. He was set to have what is known as the Fontan procedure. His last surgery was the Glenn procedure, which took the Superior Vena Cava carrying the non-oxygenated blood from his head and connected it to his lungs, bypassing the heart. Because Owen has what is known as a single ventricle heart, his physiology is going to be changed so that the one ventricle will pump oxygenated blood to his body and the non-oxygenated blood will passively drain into his lungs. The Fontan completes this new set-up and sends the non-oxygenated blood from his lower body to his lungs. They wait to do the Fontan until kids get bigger because the blood from the lower body needs to be assisted by muscles in the lower body to get to the lungs and until they are actively walking, that is not possible.

Owen was presented at a surgical conference in December to review his records and decide when to have his next operation. After the conference, our cardiologist, Dr. Madsen called to update us on the determined path for Owen. Since his last surgery, Owen's pulmonary vein has been a major area of focus. The vein carries the oxygenated blood from the lungs to his heart to then be pumped to the rest of his body. There is some obstruction in Owen's pulmonary vein which does not allow free flow of the blood. Because of this, adding more blood to the pulmonary vein without ensuring it is as unobstructed is possible can be risky. We met with Owen's surgeon Dr. Morales, and he talked to us about how they wanted to be cautious in their approach. Because of the obstruction in the vein, the want to make sure that is open before moving forward with the Fontan. They could do the Fontan, but if the vein could not handle it, it could be exteremly harnful and they would have to operate quickly after the first surgery to take the Fontan down. Instead, they want to operate on the pulmonary vein, make sure the obstruction can be relieved, and then do the Fontan about a year later. There was a lot of back and forth during the surgical conference because obviously they would like to limit the number of surgeries, however, they want to take the safest approach. Doing this surgery in two stages was determined to be the safest path. There is a small chance that Dr. Morales will perform the pulmonary vein correction and determine that it is safe to do the Fontan, but that is highly unlikely at this time and there is no way of knowing until he is performing the operation.

 So, on Thursday, February 9th, Owen will be going back in for his 3rd heart surgery. It is hard to compare this with his 2 previous heart surgeries, but this surgery will present a new set of challenges. Owen is smart, he is aware, instead of a being a little baby who doesn't know any better, he is a toddler who understands and we have grown more in love with everyday. Seeing him in pain and not able to do the things he loves will be excruciating.

We greatly appreciate all the kind words, thoughts, prayers, and gestures as we get ready to embark on another diffcicult stage of this journey. Owen is a fighter and we know he is up for the challenge. We will update the blog as much as possible to keep everyone updated on Owen's progress. Please keep our sweet boy and his medical team in your thoughts and prayers.