The last week of nice and calm days came to an end this week. For almost 10 days in a row, Judah got to relax at the Children’s Home, play all day with mommy and in the evenings with daddy, and not have any doctors appointments, trips to the hospital or emergency room, or any major events. For so many days the three of us got to just be together and not have any worries. Last week, a couple of our doctors were out of the country at a conference, and while we knew it was on the horizon, we got to spend so many days without even thinking about the word surgery. Things changed a bit this week now that everyone is back in the office, and on Tuesday afternoon we got the call from the surgical department over at the hospital – Judah is on the schedule for his 2nd open-heart surgery on Monday, March 4th, just 6 days shy of his 6-month birthday.

Tuesday Judah also had an appointment requiring transport back and forth from the hospital, and once we finally got back to the Children’s Home we were told on Wednesday Judah would need to go back to the hospital again for a pre-operation checkup, and so we could discuss with the surgical team what their plan for Monday was. At his appointment on Wednesday, the doctors looked over every adorable inch of Judah, inside and out, and cleared him for surgery. The plan will be to bring Judah over to the hospital from the Children’s Home very early in the morning, and he is the only one on the schedule for that day (barring an emergency or other patient who cannot wait). The surgeons told us that they want to do everything they had discussed with us previously, including patching Judah’s ASD, expanding his pulmonary artery, replacing the conduit and valve they created in his heart during his first open heart surgery, and performing a procedure called a bi-atrial maze and implanting a pacemaker to help fix Judah’s abnormal heart rhythm and rate. The chief of surgery himself, Dr Morell, discussed his plan for Judah, and as he always does, he reassured us with his confidence and calm.

We are very lucky to have such talented, strong and confident doctors and nurses, both at the Hospital in our surgical, cardiac and CICU teams, but also at the Children’s Home where Judah has been for the past several weeks awaiting this surgery. Although it is difficult still not being able to take our son home, we can at least rest easy knowing that his medical team cares for him (and us) so deeply. At his appointments Tuesday and Wednesday back at the hospital, every nurse and doctor who saw Judah couldn’t help but stop and say “hi” and laugh and smile at him and tell him how cute he is.

It also helps us tremendously to both ease our minds and show how much love and prayers there are out there for mommy and daddy when we receive comments and support from all of you. We are extremely thankful and have so much love for all of you. The Jewish faith believes that one of the highest forms of tzedakah or charity is to donate anonymously, and we recently received an incredibly generous gift from an anonymous donor. Although we do not want anyone to feel obligated to donate, (your love and moral support is plenty for us), we do want to sincerely thank and show our incredible appreciation for such a kind and beautiful act. Your donation will go a long way to help us care for Judah and his needs.

We are grateful for all of you, all of your love, support, prayers, thoughts, and well wishes.  If there is any additional news before then, we will post an update, but for now we know that the surgeries on Monday could take anywhere from 3-6 hours, not including a couple of hours before and after for preparation and post-op. It will be a long day for all of us, so until then this weekend will be filled with playing, and cuddling. Please say an extra prayer or thought for us on Monday, and we will try to update everyone again when we can after surgery is complete.

until then, all of our love,

J-N-J