Surgery Date Set

The date is set. Mahaela will have surgery on Tuesday, March 29 to do the last correction that is needed on her heart. It was good to finally meet the surgeon that I have heard so much about from Bill. Bill does many anesthetics for pediatric heart cases and so gets to work with this surgeon a lot. The surgery is fairly straightforward in what needs to be done. She will be in the hospital for 5-10 days. We left the surgeons office and headed to the lab for a nose swab for MRSA. If Mahaela is a carrier, which I guess is not that uncommon these days, she would have to be medicated (ointment in her nose, I think) for the week before surgery; But Bill just texted that she does not have MRSA.
During the cath procedure, the cardiologist sent off a blood sample for a test that indicates whether or not she has a functional spleen. Her type of heart condition can often mean that other things are "messed up" that are developed during the same embryological stage. Strangely enough, it hasn't been easy to find out if she has a spleen or not. I guess oftentimes, these kids will have multiple small spleens that are nonfunctional. We don't know what her anatomy is, but the blood work indicated that her spleen is nonfunctional. She has been so healthy, for us and in the orphanage, that we had convinced ourselves that she probably did have a spleen. I'm pretty disappointed...we will have to get some recommendations, but she will be at risk for significant infections--the kind that could be life-threatening with her heart condition. That's the worst case scenario. On the other hand, we have heard that there is some debate on how to treat these kids. There is a difference in research between those that have congenital asplenia (no spleen from birth) or traumatic asplenia (from injury). The initial thought and treatment is that she would have to be on antibiotics for the rest of her life...we will see what they say. We are not sure who will manage this part of her care. It was strange, because nobody seemed to be interested in finding out this fact besides us. So, we may need some further test before surgery. More to that saga later.
On Friday, March 18 she will have to go to the hospital for all her preop testing...which I feel like we just did...lab work, chest xray, nose swabs...I hope they can get what they need as we leave for Colorado on March 19 for the kids' spring break. Then, as the surgeon said, my job is to keep her healthy. We will get home Saturday night...and I guess I'll try to quarantine her?? Ha...I have 4 other kids that also function as germ passers!

Snow Days...fun, but we are ready for spring!

The three of us before Mahaela's angiogram.

Daddy got to take her back...something that parents rarely get to do..."membership has it's privileges"

Mahaela always steals daddy's glasses and blows on them and cleans them on her shirt