Here at Stanford

Well, we checked into Stanford Terrace Inn, in Palo Alto. It's a nice hotel. It's $169/night! And, that's a discounted rate! Anyway, as we were waiting for Dr. Reddy, we were told he was running behind in a meeting, so it would be an hour. Then, Dr. Hanley spotted me, and wanted to talk. He just explained that last time I met w/ him, he didn't have my MRI pictures. He was basing everything on the report. Now that my case went to conference, and he saw the pictures, he stongly wants the surgery done. I will be on the bypass machine (heart and lung machine), they will cut open in the front, and it will take 4-5 hours. Basically, he will remove the aneurysm, and then sew in a tube from one part of my aorta to the other part. I will have a normal life after this, and be able to have more babies. I asked him if I would be intubated, (tube down the throat). He said yes, and I will have that in for 24 hours after surgery. I will be heavily sedated, and wont know what's going on. The reason for this is because it's a major operation, and having worked on the aorta, I could have major blood pressure issues after surgery. Another risk is that my left vocal cord will be temporally damaged...just like baby Ross' was for a couple months. He said it would last about the same amount of time. The risk of death is near to zero! Pheww....I will have a chest tube, and will be in the hospital for 5-7 days. My date is September 5.

SO, then we met w/ Dr. Reddy, and he was so pleased w/ Ross' weight and how alert he is. He kept saying how good he looks...oh, and Dr. Hanley was saying the same thing. =) Ross' surgery is very straight forward, and he expects good results. This is news to me.....the time spent "working on the heart" is about 25 minutes!!! The most time is spent opening up the chest, and anesthesia. That's so crazy to me. But, the overall time will be 4-5 hours. His left pulmonary artery is not a concern to Dr. Reddy. He will just make an incision and then sew the other way, so it doesn't need a patch. It's hard to explain. And, he doesn't have to be on bypass! I'm really really happy about that.

Ok, I'll update tomorrow. Pre-op is at 7:30am.

Kira