Moving Forward

After a lot of discussion, going back and forth, and weighing out all of the pros and cons. (Not to mention asking God for guidance and clarity) We have decided to go forward with the operation in Los Angeles.We understand that going into the surgery it could go either way and at this point I am trying to accept the fact that I don't have any control- only God and Dr. Kallen (the surgeon) do.

We have said many prayers for our son and will continue to do so. I am hoping that the valve in question met will be at least 8mm in size so that they are able to do a complete heart repair for Ethan, but am anticipating that Ethan will have the single ventricle repair. The surgeon said he was 75% sure that it would go the single ventricle route and didn't want us to get our hopes up for the full heart repair. Ethan's surgery is scheduled for August 8th.Pre-op appointment will be the day before at Children's Los Angeles at 10:00 am and will last 2-3 hours.

We decided to stay with Children's Los Angeles for many reasons.

1.) Of course their is the convenience factor in that we will only be about 2 1/2 hours from where we live, but most importantly we feel that the surgeon was very candid in speaking with us and believe that he will do what is best for Ethan overall.

2.)We had tried contacting Boston on multiple occasions and neither the surgeon or the cardiologist would return our calls. The cardiologist there spoke to Ethan's cardiologist in San Diego and said that they would be able to do the full heart repair, but he wouldn't return any of our calls.(We left messages both with receptionists and on machines.)

3.) Insurance would not cover the surgery in Boston, so of course that was another factor.

4.) My dad and step mother live very close (about 20 minutes) from the hospital so we would have the emotional support of having family close by.

I feel that after weighing out all the pros and cons that God was guiding us in the direction of Los Angeles.

I am not going to lie and say that I'm not a wreck or having anxiety. I will probably always question if I'm making the right decisions for Ethan, but I think that I would feel that way no matter what decision was made. I try to be strong for my family, but the unknown of what to expect and the fact that my baby will be undergoing another open heart surgery truly scares me. It's difficult to hand over your child to someone that has his life in his hands. We are counting down the days....10 from today till surgery....

Please pray with us in asking for continued growth of Ethan's valve and for God's guidance over the surgeon's judgement. We truly appreciate the prayers and support of our friends and family.