Blake's upcoming surgery

Blake's repair of his coarctation of the aorta is scheduled for Monday July 10th. We are supposed to be at Lucile Packard (Stanford's children's hospital) at 11:30 with surgery scheduled for 1 pm. A coarctation of the aorta is a narrowing of the aorta, the main blood vessel that supplies oxygenated blood to his whole body. Blake's narrowing is in the transverse portion of the aortic arch, where the carotid arteries branch from the aorta. So, for this surgery they will have to do a median sternotomy -- entering his chest through his sternum. They are not yet sure whether he will have to be on bypass or not.

All our preparations are pretty much complete. Thanks to two of my sister's co-workers and to our neighbor, Ken, we have all the blood that we will need on hand. Blake's blood type is A-, a relatively rare type, and I am the only one in our family that was compatible and able to donate for Blake. We really appreciate the generosity of our other donors.

This week, Blake completed his pre-op appointment, a not so pleasant experience for Blake or for us. Blake especially hated the EKG -- as soon as the stickers came out, Blake started yelling. The blood draw was none too popular either. But, afterwards Blake enjoyed lunch out with two of his donors and chasing the pigeons at the Stanford Mall.

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital now has wireless internet, so we will be updating this site with news of Blake's condition. We all appreciate your good thoughts for Blake's fast and easy recovery.