The date for Maya's surgery has been set for Monday, September 27th. Yesterday, Kevin and I met with the surgeon that will be fixing Maya's heart. He is an amazing doctor and it is was good to finally get some answers to the what if's. Her surgery will be open-heart and she will be put on bypass (heart/lung machine). Once her heart is still, he will go in and reconstruct some parts of her mitral valve that are not lining up properly and causing it to leak. He will then place a ring around the valve to tighten it up and help it be more stable. She will then be taken off bypass, and they will test her valve to see how it performs. He will continue to make adjustments until he feels satisfied that the problem is fixed.
If that does not work, he will put a mechanical valve in as a last resort. Mechanical valves come with many complications, so we hope that will not be necessary. Most likely this will not be a permanent fix. Her valve is not big enough for an adult ring, so a teenage-sized ring will be used. He said it is possible that this work for a long time, but we may be looking at replacing the ring in ten years. He felt 75% certain that he will be able to fix it without having to replace it and that is what we will be praying for. The most dangerous part of the surgery will be re-entering her chest, since her sternum will have much scar tissue from the previous surgery. I ask that if you see us out, please don't discuss the surgery in front of Maya... while she knows what is going on, others' concern can raise her anxiety. If you have any specific questions, feel free to call or email me.
We will be spending two days in Pediatric Intensive Care and probably two or three more days in a step-down unit. Should he have to put a new valve in, we will be there a week or more. The first 48 hours will be the hardest and she should start feeling much better after that. I ask that if you see us out, please don't discuss the surgery in front of Maya... while she knows what is going on, others' concern can raise her anxiety. If you have any specific questions, feel free to call or email.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. You have no idea how much it means. The day of surgery and throughout the hospital stay I will post updates on my blog. I want to make sure that people are not left out and that seems like the best way to keep everyone updated without having to keep track of a million email addresses. Also, so many of you have offered to make meals that I could not possibly keep it all straight. Our friend Stuart has set up a care calendar for putting it all together. Please do not feel obligated, if everyone did we could feed a small country! But it is there for those of you who want and are able to help.
Blog: http://brandycwebb.blogspot.com/
Care Calendar: http://carecalendar.org/logon/50973
Calendar ID: 50973
Security Code: 8893
Please feel free to forward this to anyone who knows and loves sweet Maya. I could not possibly gather all the email addresses and it is likely that I have missed someone. Please keep her in your prayers and thank you for all the love! If I have not answered your email or called you back, I promise I will. Right now the scope of it all is a little overwhelming so I am just taking it day by day. I know that God has a plan and He loves her and will take care of her... and I will trust in Him.
In His Grace,
Brandy
