It might have taken 6 hours (instead of the projected 3-4), but the the stent is in. The process involved placing Grair under anesthesia and attempting to expand the narrowing of the his pulmonary valve.

Coming into the procedure, we knew the tube where the pulmonary valve is located had narrowed. It was a 12mm tube and we came to find that at one part it had narrowed to 6mm. This was causing a dangerously high pressure inside Grair’s right ventricle. The goal of today’s procedure was to widen the narrowing back to 12 mm, thus alleviating the high pressure.

Dr. Delaney used three balloons to open the valve. While this opened the valve up, it didn’t keep it open, and it continued to collapse. This was expected, so the next option was to use a stent to keep it open. This worked.

Upon completing the stent procedure, the doctors evaluated the pressures again and found the pressures decreased to 80% of where we started, thus accomplishing the goal.

However, the doctors feel the pressures are still too high. If this is the case, the only cause now is the valve and tube simply being too small for Grair.

Tomorrow, we will do another echocardiogram which will remeasure the pressures. Since the majority of Grair’s measurements have been done by echos, we’ll be able to use tomorrow’s results to compare apples to apples.

If we find the pressures are still too high, we’ll have to go through another open heart surgery soon to replace the valve. This could be as early as Monday.

Tomorrow we’ll have more information and be able to predict a bit more, in theory.

Grair is up in his room recovering. He has to keep his leg straight and still for 6 hours, which may wind up being the toughest part of the day! Fortunately his brother brought him a new plush Angry Bird and his sister brought him a plush duck, each of which have made him very happy!

Thank you for the continuing support and keeping Grair in your prayers!  I will write again when Melissa and I have a better feel for what our next step is.