Surgeon Appointment

On Monday, I had my appointment with our surgeon, Dr. Erez.  Before that, I met with a geneticist who plans on collecting DNA and data from the baby, to research HLHS. 

Dr. Erez is really an incredible doctor.  I feel so blessed that Hashem has provided us with doctors that are world renown, as well as completely devoted to their patients and the families.  The appointment went incredibly well, relieving me of certain worries.  The c-secion will be scheduled for the week of September 29th, although due to an "obtuse" secretary, we still don't have the exact date yet. 

One of the things that Dr. Erez said was that the baby's aorta size was not a problem.  In fact, his words were "it's great! 3 mm is large.  1 mm would be a problem, but we should be just fine."  Sigh of relief taken.

As well, he was very thorough in making sure that I understood the condition, the surgeries, the possible outcomes and how it would impact on every member of our family.  He was very happy to see that I was well versed and didn't need any explanation.  I explained to him that our pediatric cardiologist, Professor Rein, had been very straightforward in explaining to us that the baby had a 45% chance of living over the age of 5 and that with each (G-d willing) successful surgery, our percentage went up. 

With this he corrected me and said, "45?  Really, that's what Professor Rein said?  No...that's too low.  I would say in the 60s, closer even to 70%."  Needless to say, I left the appointment with a big smile on my face. 

Our only foreseeable problem would be, if something happens and I need to deliver early.  Dr. Erez will be out of the country for the next two weeks and he is the only surgeon in Jerusalem that performs the Norwood surgery.  We would have to go to Shneider's Children's Hospital in Petach Tikvah. 

So, I'm going on bedrest for week 38, drinking a lot, keeping my legs together, and doing what I can to stick to the plan.