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Ben had open heart surgery this morning at Children's Hospital in Denver. They needed to fix the big hole in his heart, that was the size of a dime. There was also a small hole up next to a valve that they hoped they could do something with.
It took the Doctor just over four hours to get the job done. He just came out and saw Dan, Mugsy and Candy to give his report. He took one look at Candy and remembered her from University Hospital ICU, clear back to when he was a new Doctor. They had a few words about the old times and then he told them about Ben.
The surgery went just fine. The Doctor was able to patch the big hole as he wanted. He used a piece of Ben's paracardio sack for the patch material. The sack is plenty big enough that he pulled it back together and stitched it back up. That hole is now closed off solid. He barely could see the small hole, because where it was located. He put a full stitch on each side of the hole and then a cross stitch to somewhat pull it together. It was too close to the valve to pull it tight. He did say that this should give it all it needs to finish mending itself tight.
So now it's off to ICU and on the ventilator for one or two nights and then hopefully a normal recovery period. He should go home from the hospital in a week. The Doctor did say all the pressures stayed right where they wanted them. He always is concerned in doing this kind of patch, that the pulmonary pressures gets to high.
Candy said this as good a report that anybody could ask for. I'll report more in a few days or so.
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