Update on the second balloon

 Teddy is back, right now, in the cath lab with Dr. Berman. He's already asleep and did very well with his anesthesia. After talking to the doctor, I have some answers to some questions that people have asked me, so I'll list it all below.

Why, exactly, are we doing this, instead of replacing the valve?
This is the biggest question I get asked, and so I want to put it all here. 

1. There are better options as he grows, so we want to put off replacing that valve for as long as possible. 
2. The valve that they put in is CoreMatrix, which actually has grown some with him. It's a crazy space-age material that does, in fact, grow with the kid. The problem is that the leaflets have calcified a bit, and so they're constricting the growth some. The valve has grown since last July, even, and so they know that he'll tolerate the ballooning.
3. The risks of this vs. open heart surgery to replace the valve are much, much smaller, and there is some expected benefit.
4. Finally, and most importantly, the pulmonary valve is doing fine as is. There's no need to replace it. Therefore, rather than do an open heart surgery now, and then do another when that needs it, they're hoping to put off the surgery until they can do both at once, thus saving him an extra trip on the heart-lung bypass. The risks on this surgery vs. the risks of going on bypass are so much smaller.

How long will he be back?
Probably a couple of hours. They're going to start with the same size balloon they ended with last time, since they know he tolerated that. They're going to stretch his valve, let it rest, check to see how it's doing, and then repeat until it's doing better.

When do you go home?
Ideally, tomorrow. That's the hope and expectation. There is a chance that he won't respond well, or that there will be too much leakage. In that case, we may have to stay and watch his heart and see how he's doing, or even stay and go back into surgery to replace the valve anyway, even though we don't want to. And yes, I know that was a run-on sentence, but I'm leaving it that way.

How's Teddy right now?
If you're reading this in real time, we just got a message saying that they've gained access to the femoral vessels, and will be working on getting all the numbers and pressures inside the heart. He's fine.

So we're waiting in the waiting room, waiting to hear how everything is going. If there's news, I'll update here, eventually.  

Update 1
They just used the first balloon on his valve and everything went great. They are about to go to the next size. Teddy is doing great.

Update 2
The procedure is done. We are waiting now to talk to Dr. Berman and get the report on how far they went, what they expect, etc. Teddy did great, according to the latest message from the OR.

Update 3
Teddy's done with surgery. We traded a lot of constriction at the aorta for a lot less and a mild-to-moderate leak for a moderate leak. He's still not back in the room with us yet, but in the short term, we watch and see if he has more energy. The surgeons are optimistic that he should. We'll keep and eye on him. If he's feeling better, then that means no big surgery for months, maybe a year, which is awesome. If he's not, then we're back here before then to replace the valve. But we're hopeful, and not unreasonably so, that he's going to go home tomorrow and feel better.