I was just testing my updated Wordpress. I hate upgrading. Seems like everything works
Eric arrived at our house at about 1PM today. He is doing very well.
We have much to be thankful for. See picture below. Enough said.
Thanks for all of your prayers and your support.
Eric is doing fine. He is eating and sitting up. The doctors told us Eric will likely go home on Monday.
After lunch, they want Eric to get up and walk around. We will be able to walk to different parts of the hospital. Eric is very ready to get rid of all the tubes and cords hanging on to him.
The hospital has wifi access which is extremely nice. Mom and dad enjoy that very much as it gives us something to do when Eric does not need our attention.
I have my MacBook Pro along which has an isight camera. This allows us to video conference with Eric’s friends. Eric was extremely happy last night when he had a chance to talk with Mike Fisher’s boys. We use google’s new video chat or skype. We look forward to doing more video chats this afternoon.
Below is a picture showing Eric all smiles while talking to his friends Mike Fisher boys. He is showing them one of his gifts. It is a monkey that squeals. Mom and dad hope the batteries do not last very long.
This afternoon after several hours delay, Eric was moved out of ICU to a regular room.
Eric is sitting up in bed and eating. He is playing with his toys and doing quite well. For those of you that are interested I will give a few highlights since Eric was out of surgery.
Last night was a bit of a trial because Eric was extremely thirsty. He was not to have any liquids for 12 hours. Eric desperately wanted something to drink. After a few hours they finally got him some ice chips. About 10pm he drank some juice. Afterward he fell asleep and had a good night of sleep.
Eric was in a sore mood this morning. He told us he was cross. Certainly not an understatement. Later on in the morning he cheered up a bit.
Eric is very ready to go home. When we moved him to the regular room, he got very upset when he realized that be was not going home. I think Eric will be EXTREMELY ready to go home before we are able to get him out of here.
Eric enjoyed having some visitors today. Both sets of grandparents were here as well as Rhoda and Eric’s sisters. Eric’s sister Grace was not sure what to think of Eric when she first saw Eric.
Eric also enjoyed many gifts. Maybe some other day I will post more details on the gifts.
The surgeon just told us that the operation was successful. Everything went as planned. The blood is all flowing like normal.
There was some concern that the membrane would damage the aortic valve. The doctor said the valve looks fine. There was no long term damage to the valve.
We are to be at the hospital at 8:15AM. We are planning on driving to Pittsburgh tonight and getting a motel so that we don’t have to get up at 4am.
The hospital has not given us an exact time but we estimate surgery around 10AM.
I hope to update after Eric is out of surgery in early afternoon.
Hi Friends and Family,
Our oldest son Eric Chad is scheduled for open heart surgery next Friday November 14.
Ever since Eric was a baby the doctors talked about Eric having a bad heart murmur. They always talked about how children often have a murmur and than grow out of it. About a year ago we changed doctors. The new doctor thought the heart murmur should be checked out by specialist.
The pediatric cardiologist suggested further test. In May we went to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. They did EKG and a heart sonogram. At that visit he told us that he has a membrane or tissue below is aortic valve. Normally they monitor the patient but usually at some point you need an operation to take the tissue out. This type of problem is what causes teenagers to have a heart attack when they are playing basketball.
A few weeks later the doctor called us back and said he discussed the case with the panel of surgeons at the hospital. The consensus among the doctors was that it would be better if the operation would be performed sooner rather than later. The membrane is causing some leakage of the valve. Over time this could damage the valve and the valve would have to be replaced.
Eric is a normal healthy young boy with no visible symptoms of a bad heart. It was difficult to believe that we needed to put what looked to us like a perfectly healthy young boy through open heart surgery. Just recently he learned to ride his bike. A few Sundays ago our family walked around Shawnee Lake. Eric biked the entire 3 miles.
My wife and I decided to get a second opinion at the Children’s Hospital in Hershey. The Hershey doctors basically told us the same things. Finally we decided that the operation needed to be done.
About a month ago, we called the hospital and told them we were ready to proceed with the operation. For various reasons they did not get back to us for a few weeks. About a week ago they called and wondered if we would like to schedule the surgery in about two weeks. We were a bit shocked that it would be that soon.
Yesterday we went to the hospital and did the pre admission work. They took and EKG, an Xray, and did the blood work. We were proud of Eric when they did the blood work. He did not cry. He explained to me how he watched the blood go into the little tubes.
The doctors also explained the surgery to us the best they could. Eric is having what they call Subaortic membrane resection. Basically they open the chest and go through the aortic valve and cut or shave the excess membrane or tissue that is causing the problem. If everything goes well, this procedure will take care of the problem.
This is a fairly common procedure for a specialty hospital like Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh usually does several a month. It is still open heart surgery but one of the least complicated open heart surgery. The whole operation will likely last 2-3 hours.
The expected recovery for a healthy child is rather amazing. They will likely keep him somewhat sedated the first 12-24 hours but by Saturday evening he should be out of the ICU and sitting up in bed. By Sunday they want him moving around the hospital and maybe even walking. If there is no complications, the doctor said it is likely that he can home Monday. He might actually be able to walk out of the hospital by himself. Within 2 weeks he should basically be recovered. The doctor told us that Eric will likely be well enough to go to Thanksgiving Family Gatherings. They told us that we should try to stay away from crowds for the first two weeks and especially be careful so that he does not get a chest cold from others that have the flu.
My wife and I plan to stay at the hospital the entire time especially if Eric comes home on Monday.
I plan to update my blog at www.SethStoltzfus.com after Eric gets out of surgery and maybe a few more times.
Our family sure would appreciate your prayers.
My wife had this for the main course tonight.
We had a beautiful rainbow out behind out house. The rainbow was complete and the double rainbow went almost half way around. 
Me to five year old, “Did you take your Sunday afternoon nap?”
Five year old, “Well I did not sleep.”
Me “Why, Couldn’t you sleep?”
Five year old, “Well lets not worry about that part.”
Later
Five year old “My brother is turning five next week”
Me “Will he be caught up to you than?”
Five year old, ” Yea for a little bit but than I have a birthday than I am out of here!”
Later five year old “My dad just turned 30 yesterday. Daddy just can’t catch up to mommy, soon mom will have another birthday and than she will be out of here (not thirty anymore).”
Eight year old friend, “How old was your dad? Was he 29? Hold it he was young.”
BTW “Happy Birthday Mike”