The Fight of our Lives

As many of you have now heard, the surgery did not go as well as we hoped. In fact, we find ourselves in a very grave situation. Here are the facts:

1. Evie's surgeons successfully switched her arteries, fixed her aorta, and patched the hole in her lower ventricles. They were pleased with their results.
2. During the surgery the doctors discovered the pulmonary artery would also need a patch, so they continued to work through the afternoon on that. Unfortunately, in their work to sutcher (sp?) the artery, another small perforation was made in her heart chamber.
3. The doctors would have tried to fix that as well, but she had now been on the table for hours and her heart had been through so much that continued surgery would be very risky.
4. They decided not to pursue that fix at this time, fearing that her heart would be too week from all the surgery. They were correct. When she was weaned off the machine it became clear that Evie was in trouble. Her blood pressure and blood oxygen were frighteningly low.

Thus, the situation we now find ourselves in is a desperately sick little girl whose heart is too weak. She is back on a machine with the hope that a few days "rest" for her heart will help, but because she is in such a volatile situation right now with blood thinners and such, this is now the most dangerous position Evie has ever been in and she is at incredible risk.

The good news: If Evie can make it through these next few days and build up some strength in her heart, the remaining surgery should not be difficult and she will go on to live a full life.

Words cannot describe the depths we find ourselves in now. In fleeting moments we can cling to some hope, but at this time they are few and far between. There is little that we or even the physicians can now do for Evangeline. God help us.