"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Friday, June 1, 2018

Surgery Scheduled and Facebook Page

Hello to everyone in Conway-land!  My how things have changed since the last post on this page!  For those who aren't regular facebook users, you will be happy to hear Connie has a new baby brother, Hugo.  He was born on March 15.  School just let out for the summer last Friday and the kids are loving summer.  MK is still playing tennis and is taking Geometry this summer.  She will start 8th grade in the fall.  Conway is playing golf, skiing, doing archery with DASA and will enter 6th grade.  Karsten just made his first communion, is LOVING golf this year, and will begin 3rd grade.  Frankie just graduated from preschool and will start kindergarten.  All four of them go to my school, St. Charles Borromeo, where I teach 4th grade.  We love our SCB family!  Celeste just got her driver's license and will be a senior next year.  Can you believe it?!

I'm updating today to share that it is finally time to replace his pacemaker that was placed when he was five.  He also has a bad atrial lead.  It has gotten so damaged that with any activity, his heart basically goes into atrial fibrillation.  This has impacted his quality of life in recent months so we are relieved to be getting this done at last.

We will travel to Ann Arbor on Friday, June 8th.  His pre-op appointment is at 2pm on the 8th.  Please pray for safe travels as we are taking the whole crew.  Then on Saturday, the hospital is hosting a reunion for heart center patients (this is the one we have attended three times before).  Sunday we will find something fun to do in Ann Arbor and then on Monday is his surgery day.  If all goes well, we hope he will be discharged 24-48 hours following surgery.  The plan is to place a new atrial lead transvenously and replace the generator in his abdomen.  There is a chance they will discover once they get in there that his veins are too small for transvenous placement.  If that is the case they will send us home and reschedule another surgery to reopen his chest and place the lead epicardically.  We are hopeful this will not be necessary as we'd like to see him have as much of a summer as possible.  Even with the first option of transvenous lead placement, he still will not be allowed to lift his hand above shoulder height for six weeks following surgery.  This will make swimming, golf, and summer camp a no go for him. 

Most of our updates from here on out will be via a Facebook page we created to share his status more conveniently.  You can like and follow it here:
https://www.facebook.com/Care4Conway-146862799441923/

Blessings,
Erin and Greg