Update #6

Update #6:  "Rebekah just got off the heart/lung bypass machine.  They are working on getting some bleeding stopped and closing her up.  May be an hour or so more."

Yay!!  It sounds like they are going to finish up sooner than they thought in update #5!  That's good news!  We think, from talking to the surgeon on Friday, that being on the heart/lung bypass machine means that she had to have her original conduit replaced and that he wasn't able to just patch into it with the new conduit.  Of course, this is just an educated guess, since we haven't specifically heard that from the surgeon or medical staff.  Will be anxious to hear directly from the surgeon what he was able to do.  Definitely will mean a little extra recovery in the PCICU after having been on the heart/lung bypass (also known as ECMO).

We are off to grab some lunch quick, so our next update may be a bit later.  Will keep you all posted!!

Nancy

Update #5

As of about 1:15, "They are still working away, about halfway done maybe.  All is going well. Will send another update in an hour."

Wow.  We are more than six hours into surgery, and about halfway done.  It's going to be a very long day!  We knew that surgery could be 10+ hours, and it certainly looks as if that will be the case.  By far, her longest surgery to date (the longest previous surgery was about 7 hours).  Please pray for wisdom, strength and endurance for Dr. Bradley.  I cannot imagine working on something so tiny for as long and tediously as he is working on our daughter's heart.

Nancy

Update #4

"Still working away.  Rebekah is very stable. Will update again in an hour."

Very, very thankful that Rebekah is doing so well!  One of the surgeon's concerns was the pulmonary hypertension that Rebekah battles in her left lung, so it is good to know that so far it seems that she has been unaffected by this.

There is really no way to guess how much longer the surgery will last.  Since we have gotten very vague updates, there is no way to predict exactly how far Dr. Bradley has gotten and how much he has left to do.  We'll continue updating each time we hear something new!  Thank you all for checking in and praying for Rebekah!!

Nancy

Update #3

"They are working away.  All is going well.  Will call back in an hour with another update."

Sounds like things are progressing well.  Mommy would like a little more detail, but I am happy to know that things are going well so far.  I'm working my way through photo editing to hopefully have some pictures to post in a little while.  It's keeping me busy, anyway!  :)

Nancy

Update #2

Things are still going well.  Two and a half hours into the surgery and Dr. Bradley is still working his way through the scar tissue to get to the "real" surgery part.  Scar tissue is completely normal and comes from Rebekah's previous surgeries.  We anticipated some of this, but usually it only takes an hour or so to work through it.  Dr. Bradley also cleans it up so that the next time he has to go in for surgery it will not be built up any more than it has to be.  Thankful to have such a great team of doctors, nurses, technicians, and anesthesiologists working with Dr. Bradley today!

We should have another update in roughly an hour.  We will post again with any new information as we get it!

Nancy