Familiar Faces at Seattle Children's

We will intentionally keep this post short on details, but we thought it would be important to let everyone know what is happening with Eddie. So, in bullet point format, here it is:

1. This morning, Eddie woke up, had breakfast, got dressed, and was otherwise on track for a great day
2. Without warning, around 8am, he said he felt sick and said he wanted to go to bed. It was clear something was wrong so we called 911 immediately and worked to keep him awake and alert
3. Medics arrived and took Eddie and Sarah to Seattle Children's via ambulance
4. En route, Eddie threw up but seemed to be doing a bit better
5. Upon arrival at the ER, however, he took a turn for the worse and his heart definitely was beating very irregularly. A code call went out and the ER was soon full with 20+ doctors, nurses, and specialists working to keep him stable
6. Our surgeons made the decision that Eddie needed to be put on an ECMO machine (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) since his left ventricle was no longer squeezing sufficiently to support him on its own
7. He spent most of the day resting from surgery and the doctors/nurses were busy monitoring his vitals for any signs of worsening/improvement
8. While Eddie was heavily sedated through this process, we had several happy moments when he was alert enough to nod his head in response to our questions and to squeeze our fingers when we asked him to
9. Around 5:30p, shortly after the kids arrived to say hello, our doctors told us Eddie needed to go back to surgery because there were signs of pulmonary and cardiac distress that needed to be addressed quickly. Basically, there was some blood coming up through his breathing tube and the fear was that the pressure building up in his left ventricle and atrium would soon spread to the lungs which could eventually make him ineligible for a transplant
10. So as of this moment, we are waiting to hear back from our surgeons. This procedure requires inserting a balloon stent between the left and right atria to relieve the pressure in his left atria/ventricle. This is not a simple procedure and carries significant risk

At this point, it appears certain Eddie will be in the hospital until a heart becomes available for transplant. Due to his current condition, our transplant surgeon has expanded the available geographic area to cover virtually the entire country and will now look at possible using larger hearts that we wouldn't have previously considered.

We are extremely grateful to those that helped at the hospital today and at home with the kids (you know who you are!) We're sorry we haven't been able to reply to your many texts, voicemails, phone calls, and emails. Know that we love you and feel the impact of your thoughts and prayers.