Surgical News - All Fronts

Max, as always, sailed through surgery like the champ he is today, in fact, he surprised everyone but us! Because of his cardiac status it isn't unusual for new doctors and nurses to be extremely cautious with Max expecting him to pull some "stupid medical trick" but he always "behaves" and bounces back beautifully. The anesthesiologist was great (sometimes good things come to those who wait) and very attentive to Max. The surgeon was quite happy with the results and he expects a full recovery of the vision Max was losing. We'll see his senior fellow tomorrow and check back in with him when we're back in May.....

.....ah, yes, it's been confirmed that we'll be back as soon as school lets out. After our meeting with Dr. Vricella he presented Max at "cardiac conference" this morning where all of Hopkins' great cardiac minds convene to discuss their biggest cases (one more club Max qualifies for). This discussion confirmed that surgery couldn't wait and a brand new high tech mechanical valve that only Hopkins has been approved to use will probably be the best option for Max. Becasue Dr. Vricella leaves for Italy on June 16th we need to be in and out before then. Max will have to miss his beloved summer school but at least he'll still have a good chunk of his summer vacation left when we return to Arizona.

I'll close with a classic "Max Moment", we walked into pre-op this morning and all the nurses swung around and yelled, "Max is here!" With the thousands of kids that walk through this place I asked them how they remember all the kids. The reply? "We don't but who can forget Max?" Just one more set of "Max Fans"!