Its going. Aside from the fact he could keel over at any moment he seems to be doing suprisingly well.
As for now, since he seems to be ok they want to hold off on the surgery for a while and let him heal as much as possible from the last operation and to let him gain some weight up as well.
The one thing we DO know is he WILL get another surgery.
However they much balance between doing the surgery sooner and later.
Reasons for doing it later: He is young, he is still too tiny for them to do open heart surgery, let alone a 2nd open heart surgery. If they do the surgery now they expect to run into some possible complications as his heart around the valve will not be fully healed as of yet. If they wait, the scar tissue that is developing around the artifical valve will become stronger and actually make the next surgery easier. Doing the surgery this early is very risky. While he is young he seems to be doing fine, the longer they wait the more likely the surgery will be successful. In the meantime if his hearet valves remaining leaflet gets stuck in an open position we will be in the same boat as before, we will see a noticeable decline in health and all the warning signs, we will have time to bring him in the hospital and days if not weeks to get the surgery scheduled and done.
Resons for doing it sooner: His heart valve has 2 leaflets that open and close with a hinge running through the middle. One of the leaflets is stuck shut. Nobody knows why, they doubt that the valve could have been defective, there are too many checks and tests done on the valve vefore the would put it in a person. If the valve stops functioning and the leaflet is stuck in a closed position, he will die almost immediatly without any warning. The longer we wait to do the surgery the greater chance we have of the heart valve ceasing to function. There is NO way to gauge how long it will last. It could stop right now.
Logan is doing just fine, he is gaining weight, he has a great attitude and loves to smile. He is up to par with all the baby milestones and it is hard to remember there is something wrong.
But no matter how healthy and happy he seems, his heartvalve is a ticking timebomb with no numbers to tell you how long he has. The harsh reality that my wife and i have to accept is that any moment he could drop dead. For all i know he could have died while i wrote this post.
So.... i think right now we are looking to see if he can get close to 1 year old. In the meantime we are taking him to the hospital for regular checkups, the cardiologists are watching his heart valve like a hawk waiting for the slightest decline in health.
So.... right now we try not to make any concrete plans in anything.
Here is his serious introspective pic...
Here is my fam at Halloween. Myself, My wife, Logan the monkey, and my Stepson Tyler AKA Capt Jack Sparrow.
EIDT: Damn smypathy weight. Im gettin fat.
