Jack's First Few Days

The next few days were the hardest that our little family had ever gone through. After a thorough echo cardiogram on Monday, they decided to attempt to fix his heart on Thursday. The cardiologist said, "I will explain to the surgeons what needs to be done and they will either agree to do it all in one surgery or they will laugh in my face."
Dr. Hawkins, who is Chief of Pediatric and Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery for Primary Children's Medical Center and the University Health Care, prepared to perform the operation. It was so great to be able to hold him for a few days before the big day. These were some of the longest days of our lives waiting in anticipation for the surgery. Dr. Hawkins visited with us about the operation and what he was going to do to repair his heart. Normally the success rate of the "arterial switch" operation is 95%, Dr. Hawkins helped us understand that with the complications of little Jack's heart it was more like a 70-80% chance that he would make it through the surgery. We obviously were very anxious, however, we felt confident that everything would turn out okay.