Getting Down to Business

Bobby is doing fine. He is now on the heart/lung bypass machine as they are getting ready to do the Fontan. Essentially, they are grafting a Gortex 'vein' between his inferior vena cava and the pulmonary artery. As a result, the blood from the lower half of Bobby's body will bypass the heart and go directly to the lungs for oxygenization. He will be on Coumadin for about a year in order to prevent blood clots in his artificial vein.

Once that's done, they will put in the pacemaker wires. That can take a long time as the procedure requires much precision. So we are going to be waiting for a good while yet. Still, its good to hear that everything is going well so far.

They will update us again at 1:00 pm.

P.S. Bobby undergoes the procedures. I write the blogs. Valerie edits my mistakes. We're Team Pugata.

Nota Bene: Years ago, V and I decided on an alternate family name. At the time we had 6 cats (or 'gatas'). We were thinking of getting a Pug. Hence we became the Pugatas. We never got the pug because we found out that they have a lot of medical issues. There's an irony there somewhere.