More details on the surgery.

The surgery went well, but Brayden is not out of the woods yet. They did not close up his chest as he had swelling from being on the life support machinery. He has a sterile clear bandage kind of thingie over his chest but Joey said you can actually see his heart beating. They will wait a day or two for the swelling of his lungs, etc. to go down before they close his chest. They replaced one of his heart valves with a donor valve. It's very sad that someone had to die in order for him to get a new heart valve, but we are soooooo thankful that this family was so incredibly generous to donate their loved one's organs This is such an amazing thing and I can hardly find the words to explain how I feel. Joey said that they received info about the donors and they will send a letter to them thanking them for their incredible gift. I have always had that organ donor box checked on my driver's license although at this point I can't imagine what organ they would take since none of them work right anymore.  :( 

I don't drive anymore (My fibrofog is waaay too bad so I voluntarily stopped driving) but I still have that box checked on my ID.  I know that they can harvest skin for burn victims as well, so if I can just help with that, it would be wonderful. If you have never thought about being an organ donor, please do. You cannot imagine what an amazing gift you are giving to a gravely ill person and their families!

Brayden also has a type of gortex tubing (stent?) in one of his arteries to his heart that will have to be replaced when he is 4 or 5 years old. The thought of more open heart surgery for this precious little one makes me sad. But alot can be done in research in 4 or 5 years time! Thank heaven for the American Heart Association! ( I have been an advocate for them for several years now since I developed heart problems) In this very lousy economy the donations to the AHA has gone down quite a bit. So if you are so inclined to donate to a great cause, this one is very near and dear to our hearts. And I mean that literally!

Well dear ones, I am beyond exhausted,and will stop now. I will write more tomorrow. Love and hugs!   Marlene