Update #2, 23rd July 08

Well I dont really know where to begin on this one, so much has happened in the last few days....

So I'll keep it brief and try to remember everything...

The doctor had to check Elijahs heart on Monday the 21st because the specialist was back from holiday and had him booked in for surgery on the Tuesday (the 22nd). After checking his heart they found he had something called Double Outlet Right Ventricle. (just google it if you wanna know what it means...) So they were unsure if the anesthetist would go ahead with everything... At about 10pm Monday night we found out they were gonna go ahead with the operation! So Tuesday morning off he went to theater at about 11am. 1:30 came around and the specialist was happy with how everything went and he was back in I C U under some heavy sedation. At about 7pm that night he started bleeding from his nose, which the docs were not expecting. The specialist came back in at about 9pm and checked it out, they took him back to theater and re-operated to take out the 'stents' they had put in earlier and seal up the puncture in his nose and then put the 'stents' back in!

So at 1:30am Wednesday he was out for the second time, this time he looked a bit stunned at what had gone on. Today (23rd), however, he looked a lot better and they are going to remove the respirator from his mouth tonight so that he will be breathing all on his own again. From here, the stents that hold his air way open are in for 5 weeks and it is possible that we will have to remain in hospital for that whole time at the end of which they operate again to remove them.

The heart condition is one that would need to be fixed up at Starship in Auckland, so they have said to get his nose all sorted out and then after that we will head to Auckland for the Docs up there to have a closer look at his heart... Its not something that needs to be fixed immediately but they have said that it does need to be fixed in the next several months or so...

We are believing he is totally healed of the heart condition, so please pray and believe with us in this.

Thanks again for all the prayers and support,

God Bless,

Josh, Amberley & Elijah