Update

Here's an update on how Jake is doing:

I'll start with the surgery itself which we never quite explained. Dr. Heinle was very satisfied with the surgery and felt it went well as well it answered some questions he had regarding why this sub-aortic membrane grows so quickly. I'm going to explain this how I understood it so forgive me for not being so scientific.

The English teacher's version: Before surgery, several other surgeons thought he should go ahead and replace Jake's aortic valve to prevent the tissue/membrane from returning. Dr. Heinle wasn't ready to do that yet because of Jake's age. This membrane grows at the base of the valve restricting blood flow and replacing the aortic valve is usually a solution to this problem. Dr. Heinle discovered this time that the membrane is really starting at the mitral valve and then growing onto the aortic valve. The reason it is there is because of the shape/position of Jake's mitral valve. His original defect (his ASD) included a hole in his heart and some improperly shaped leaflets of his mitral valve. The valve was stitched together in his first two surgeries. So, he (the surgeon) feels that this defective mitral valve is also positioned incorrectly which is creating turbulent blood flow thus creating this membrane.

In this surgery, besides just removing most of the membrane, he actually shaved some of the underside of the valve off to try to re-angle it. He's hopeful this will help at least slow down the growth. While he is hopeful, he was also realistically cautious due to the fact that the membrane grew so quickly last time. He does know if it grows back again, he will need to either take apart and reassemble the mitral valve or replace it altogether. If he would have done that this time, we would be assured multiple more surgeries since Jake's heart is obviously still growing and the artificial valve wouldn't grow with him.

We go back in one month for a follow-up echo/visit with Jake's regular cardiologist. We are very anxious to see how his heart is functioning at this visit. After the last surgery (#2), the membrane had already started growing a month later. We'll also follow-up about the SVT and get some more info. on that. We know Jake will stay on his beta blocker at least for 6 more months for that. It comes in pill form and thank goodness for chocolate pudding for disguising it!

As for right now, this weekend Jake ran a fever of 101. Ty ended up taking him to the ER for tests, but thankfully his fever broke at the ER and didn't come back. He got his stitches out on Monday (and hated every minute of that). The nurse practitioner we saw noticed on Monday's chest x-ray that their was a slight shadow on his lungs. She believes that Jake has Atelectasis which means part of his lung tissue is deflated. A fever is common with this. She thinks that he will be able to correct this by just being an active 4 year old. However, if his fever comes back, we'll need to go back in and do further tests. We're praying this is not the case and that his body can just correct this issue. I don't think Jake or his mommy would take more time in the hospital very well right now :)

That's where we are as of today. We're back to "Mommy pre-school" here at the house and learning about "S" this week. Grace is starting to love school time each day...she happily glued shapes to her shape train we made for a good hour yesterday. She can't wait to paint sunflowers today! Jake isn't quite as excited although he starting to really love writing his letters and has started sounding out sounds in books. We're having fun at home right now and feeling pretty good!