This is the update on Nelson's surgery. He had his appointment with peds cardiology yesterday and apparently he has a VERY dilated/large left atrium (upper chamber of the heart) because his failed valve. That is causing some build-up of fluid in his lungs. This also happened 5 years ago before his last surgery.
Today we met with the surgeon as well as anesthesia. Those visits went very smoothly.
At the visit yesterday the peds cardiologist had concerns about at least one of Nelson's teeth, and he asked that Nelson be seen before surgery.
MANY thanks to our friends, Abby and Jim, who were willing to get him in today to Jim's practice for evaluation. We really appreciate it!!
The verdict from that visit is that Nelson will have to have a tooth extracted next week, and that will postpone his heart surgery for several weeks.
I think the timing on all of this has simply been astonishingly beautiful. Consider that it was about 8 weeks ago when we first heard about Nelson's symptoms...then I visited him about 4 weeks ago and sent my evaluation to the surgical specialists here. Then Nelson's paperwork got processed last week...he was able to get a plane ticket to the US last Friday (despite all the tremendous havoc still ongoing from the storm, shutting down many of the main airports in our region). Then the quick turn-around on the pre-op visits, including the dental appointment (which was literally 1 hour after his visit with the surgeon this morning!).
It's all good!
Ben
President, Thriving Villages International
Thriving Villages website: www.thrivingvillages.org
Thriving Villages blog: http://thrivingvillages.blogspot.com/
"The Christian in face of the suffering of others is the man called by God, through the bond of faith, to go to the help of others to relieve their suffering." Paul Tournier
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