Hey friends! We’ve known this day would be coming since we first learned of Judah’s condition in November 2012. The Fontan is the third in the series of three heart surgeries required to “bridge” Judah to a transplant later in life. The first surgery was done 5 days after he was born and the second at one year.
This Thursday, we’ll bring Judah in for the surgery. It will last 6-8 hours and, if all goes well, he’ll be groggy but awake Thursday evening. In-hospital recovery time is 2-4 weeks and we’ll be staying at the Ronald McDonald house since we live about an hour away from Strong.
This is completely new territory for us since we haven’t had other kids with us during a major surgery or hospital stay. Now, our girls are 3 and 1, and Liz is 4 months pregnant with our second boy. We’re not sure how things will go and how we’ll balance everything yet. A lot of it will depend on how Judah is doing.
It’s going to be a difficult week, so please keep us in prayer. Specifically, for Judah and the doctors on Thursday (surgery at 9AM). For Liz and I during the surgery as it’s one of the hardest times as parents. For our girls as their lives will be flipped upside-down.
On one hand, we know it will help him and he’ll be able to do more, but it’s never easy to go through a surgery day and recovery time. We wish he didn’t need the surgery, but he does and it’s something we can’t go around—we have to go through. God has been so faithful to us with each step, we know He will continue to be who He is: A faithful and good God.
Thank you for standing with us during this time. I’ll be updating here and on Facebook. If you want updates sent via email, you can subscribe on the right side of this page.
Much love,
Nick & Liz
Here’s a page that describes Judah’s condition and has a few short (animated) videos of the three surgeries.