Thursday, February 16th

Will is doing better this morning. He has been awake for a little bit, and his blood pressure is back to where it needs to be.

I talked with one of the cardiac surgical fellows, and she said that she wants to complete Will's skin closure tomorrow. When I asked her when she thought they would try to close his sternum, her answer surprised me. She said that they were going to leave his sternum open. She says it is rare for them to do so, but in Will's case they have to. She said that when he comes back for surgery in a few years to replace his conduit, they will try to close it then. She said that leaving his sternum open should not cause him any problems; he will have to avoid contact sports for sure.

It does make me nervous that the only thing protecting his heart is some tissue and skin, but they have reassured me that he will be fine.

The good thing about it is that we won't be here as long as I had predicted. Once Will is off of his blood pressure meds and seems stable from a cardiac standpoint, we can be transferred back to Vandy so we can prepare to go home!! What a day that will be! My estimate is that it will be another 2 weeks at least before he will be ready to transfer... if he has no complications. And knowing Will, it's definitely a possibility!