Friday, March 20, 2009

Kate has a surgery date

Kate's doctor called today with a surgery date of April 13 and a decision on the type of surgery that will be performed.

The surgeon has decided to go with a full repair, rather than the single ventricle repair. Kate's heart is on the wrong side of her body, so a single-ventricle repair would not have been straight forward. The full repair still carries a slightly higher risk, but not enough to outweigh the benefit of it.

The doctor told me that she is 'very nervous about either surgery,' because Kate's heart condition is so complicated. However, she says that Kate's surgeon is very talented and she has confidence in his ability. Because Kate's case is so difficult, they are going to call a conference with the other 20 surgeons and cardiologists, to go over Kate's test results. They will discuss her case and give their recommendations to be sure that a full repair is the best way to go.

We are still waiting for the hospital staff to call back with all the details, but for now we have a date and will start working toward getting things set up for our family to cope with Kate being in the hospital for three weeks.