Helen’s Upcoming Surgery
Monday, September 10th, 2007 by JeffAs many of you who are reading this may know, our newly-adopted daughter Helen has a heart condition called VSD (ventricular septal defect). We had an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist in late August at the Children’s Heart Clinic in Minneapolis, and after taking a careful look at her heart and discussing options, we agreed that she will have open heart surgery. It is scheduled on Sept 12th at 1:00 pm. Please pray for little Helen and for us as we care for her. We have been told that she will be in the hospital (Children’s Minneapolis) for 5-7 days after the surgery. Rachel will probably stay at the hospital most of the time. Jeff will take some time off work but may go in to work some days (we’ll see). Laura will spend some of her time with her grandparents and/or aunts and probably some time at home with Jeff.
This is not really a surprise…we’ve known all along that Helen would probably need surgery to repair this defect (which is a hole between the two ventricles in the heart). The surgery is not without some risk, although it’s a procedure that is done quite often and the surgical teams are very skilled. We really don’t have an option to not do it…without the surgery her heart would keep working harder and harder and eventually she could have congestive heart failure and permanent lung damage. So we leave it in God’s hands and trust that he will take care of little Helen and make her well.
Thank you for your prayers.
Here’s a recent picture of Helen. Go to her photo album for more pictures.
If you’re interested in learning more about VSD, these are good resources: