Live Blogging Evie's 3rd Surgery

It's about 3:30PM as we're writing this and Evie has been in the OR for about an hour. The nurse just gave us an update and told us that all of her I-V lines have been put in (4 in total), and that after the first incision is made and they've opened up her chest, they are going to first clear away any scar tissue that may have formed from the last two surgeries she had before hooking her up to the heart and lung machine.

We were able to speak with Evie's surgeon, Dr. Ilbawi, before she was taken back and got a better explanation of the conduit that is going to be attached to her heart. The more common name for it is the Sano shunt (scroll down on that page a bit for a picture) and it is a relatively new technique with a very low mortality rate. It is an intermediary step towards our ultimate goal of not having her heart pump mixed blood anymore, i.e., pumping oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to her lungs and body.

Below are a few pictures from the morning. The complete set of photos can be viewed here. The nurse should be back out around 4:30 to give us an update.

Thank you to everyone for your kind notes, thoughts and prayers!

The "mirror" photo below is somewhat of a tradition for us now. We've taken one every time Evie has had a surgery. You can really see how much she's grown in these past two photos.



Evie had about an hour to kill so she explored and visited the other patients.



Making the rounds.



"Hmmmmmm...."



"I think I see a cavity in there, Daddy."



Evie is double texting all her girlfriends before her surgery.

Crackly water bottles never get old. She would end up taking that water bottle back into the OR with her.

Evie was given some "happy juice" (i.e., Versed) that made her very mellow. We were a bit apprehensive about her getting the Versed because it had the exact opposite effect on her brother, Gavin, when he received it a few months ago when he had his urinary tract procedure. It turned him into a feral baby. Luckily, Evie was just stoned.

"Hey Mom, let's get a cheeseburger!"

"Where's the next party?"

Here's Evie with her surgeon, Dr. Ilbawi. He's going to take very good care of her!