Just wanted to let you folks know that we really appreciate all the prayers,
good wishes, positive energies, etc., sent Ben's way. I'm quite sure it helped,
and I'm also sure we need you to resend, or keep sending, whichever the case
may be.
In a word, surgery yesterday (Monday) was supposed to last four and a half
hours and instead lasted nine. Things were much worse than anyone had
anticipated. The Ross procedure went out the window almost right away. The
surgeon used an On-X valve to replace an aortic valve nearly completely
destroyed by an old infection. There had been no evidence of this on the
various tests he's had over the past few years.
Then they couldn't get him off the heart-lung machine. So the surgeon did a
couple of bypasses on arteries that feed the heart itself, but the heart was
enlarged enough that every time he tried to close, Ben went into defib, or
v-tac or whatever it is they call it. So it became a waiting game to see if the
heart would settle down enough to let them close. Finally, it did. Three times
they had to restart the heart.
So now he's in Intensive Care and probably will be for a few more days until
they see whether the heart will settle down after the trauma it suffered. He
was a little better this morning than he was last night, so we're hopeful.
Keep that good energy coming. The lad needs all he can get.
Thanks!
--Bob
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