Presently Elliott is stable

Elliott is presently stable. The next 8 hours will be critical. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Mark and I are stating in the Ronald McDonald house at the hospital tonight, though I suspect that we will remain at his bedside for much of the night. Thank you all for your support. We love you.


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Surgery update #8

Please keep praying for Elliott. He needs prayers and positive thoughts now more than ever. The Dr says he is experiencing a life threatening complication. Elliott has come a long way, we really need him to pull through. Please pray for our beautiful son.

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Surgery update #6

Elliott is doing well. These are the first words from Nurse J at each consultation. I hope these are the first words from Dr.M at our next update.

Elliott's heart is beating on it's own. His heart rate is a little low, but he is maintaining good blood pressure; so, they are not too concerned. It looks like they will close the incision, which may help raise his heart rate a bit.

This is good news! His little heart is beating on it's own with new architecture!

Hoping for more good news!


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Surgery update #5 + prag group nurse update

Elliott is doing fine. Dr. M is finishing the switch, then they will take Elliott off bypass and allow the heart to begin functioning again. We will likely have one more update from the nurse, then Dr. M will discuss the surgery with us, while the surgical team completes the procedure (monitoring organs, possible peritoneal dialysis to help kidney function, preparing him for transport). Only a few more hours....

After receiving this news, we decided to venture up to speak with the charge nurse regarding last night's nurse, under the guise of delivering breast milk to the freezer. I'm so glad we did. As it turns out, Nurse V is actually from the floater pool. She will not be at Elliott's bedside again. Phew! One less concern.



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Surgery update #4

Sorry for the omitted updates. Elliott is doing fine. We have been waiting to find out about the viability of his right ventricle. He is currently on the heart and lung bypass machine. Dr. M has completed the reconstruction of the aorta and closing the VSD. Dr.M was inspecting the right ventricle (rv) to determine howl to proceed. If the rv is too small and he continues with the switch to correct TGA, then Elliott would be a very very sick baby, and invaders switch is completed, it cannot be undone. If he decided the rv was too small, he would then just band the pulmonary artery to increase the pressure in the lungs and decrease blood flow to the lungs in order to improve flow to the head and body, thus improving profusion in organs- thus the procedure would be finished much sooner than anticipated and they would allow Elliott time to develop and grow and reassess rv viability in the future. If he decided the rv was viable as a pumping chamber and could handle the workload of the pulmonary artery, he would continue with the arterial switch procedure- so the arterial switch procedure will likely still be in progress during next update in an hour and a half.

He is now beginning the arterial switch procedure. This means that, in Dr. M's best judgement, Elliott's rv is a viable point chamber. This is a single fix- not a staged surgical intervention, as we were preparing for previously when we thought he solely had problems with his rv. He may need surgery later in life and will always see a cardiologist, but this is good news.

Elliott is by no means out of the woods, as there are likely a minimum of three more hours in the OR for Dr. M and then there is recovery (weening from the ventilator- aprox. 24-36 hours post op, healing of incision and sternum, making it out of the unit and hospital without infection, etc).

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, as always. I know that is what brought this miracle of a functional right ventricle. Much love.


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Surgery update #1

The large disk buzzed in my pocket as the community phone rang in the Ronald McDonald room. We were directed to Consultation Room B. The surgical nurse met us in there and explained the update process. I don't think I heard a word. Then she asked for out baby's name. Because he was admitted from St. Luke's, he was admitted as BabyBoy Mallory. I have attempted to change his name with admissions, to no avail. Anyway, it was nice that she asked for his name. I hate to think of him being cared for by people who don't know that he is the Great Elliott Hampton Mallory. Finally, she told us that anesthesia went well, and the arterial line has been placed, and the breathing tube has been relocated from an oral to a nasal entry.

The next step is the transesophageal Echocardiogram

Next update in roughly am hour and a half.


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Elliott's adventure has begun.

Elliott's adventure has begun. The night nurse said he did well overnight. She then jumped into having us sign and go over paperwork. Then she wanted to send us on a wild goose chase to pick up a copy of the Privacy Practices. She interrupted with some comment every time we started to speak to Elliott and demonstrated significant difficulty describing Elliott's dx. I think i will talk to the charge nurse and request that she not be Elliott's nurse again.

On a positive note, Daddy got to change his diaper this morning.
The anesthesiologist was nice and had a railroad themed skull cap- I think we will refer to him as the Railroad Conductor For Elliott's adventure.



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Location:Bates,Houston,United States