John Parker Update

dear friends and family, I am sitting in recovery right now with my dear sweet John Parker. He is still sleeping and they will keep him asleep for another hour or so. Steven and I are just happy and relieved to be back with him. When he wakes up, he will need to stay flat until 5:00 pm. Sometime between now and then, we will be admitted and go to the room where we will stay overnight. Recap: JPL's stent was around the size 7mm and Dr. Doyle thought 10 mm was possible. The bigger we get the stent, the better the blood flow. John Parker was ok this morning in the holding area. There was a moment when he started shaking due to the anxiety of where he was. The doctors gave him oral versed and within 10 mins he was VERY calm ad relaxed and was able to seperate us with no problem. This is typically the hardest part for me but I felt good about the situation and all of the doctors and nurses that were with him. We got an update rightoff the bat, saying JPL was asleep and on the ventilator. Our second update was that Dr. Doyle had access to the artery. JPL has access points in his groin (artery) and his neck (jugular vein). At this time, Dr. doyle began using different size balloons to see how far he could start stretching the stent. He started at 9mm, then moved to 10mm, and By the end of the procedure, Dr.doyle was able to get the stent to about 12 mm!!!! John Parker's left pulmonary artery was bigger than expected past the stent and really this is what allowed for the stent to be opened to its max (which is wonderful). Dr. Doyle was extremely pleased with the size and function of the artery and the new size of the stent. He said the plan is to let John Parker go home and be a normal active little boy for the next probably 3-4 years (how wonderful is that)!!!! John Parker's right ventricle is enlarged but that is to be expected because of his history and that he still lacks a pulmonary valve. The next steps will be to essentially break or pop the stent completely open (cath lab), or resection the stent from the artery (open heart), or replace his pulmonary valve (open heart).... But today's surgery is allowing us more time before making those decisions, so for that I am completely grateful. We are so grateful to our doctors and to our friends and family. Thank you for your support, thoughts, and prayers. I will update the blog again when we get settled in the room after he is awake. Again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!