Samuel's Heart

Below are graphic photographs from the operating table of Samuel before and during his surgery. There are images of his heart and incisions in his heart as well as the material that was removed from his heart. Don't go further if this will bother you.

Samuel is on the table all washed up and marked up, out with eyes taped closed:
I noticed in the ICU what looked like marker lines around his nipples. I figured it as tape gunk or something, you'll see in the next picture that it is indeed marker. I have to say, If I was a surgeon, it would be hard not to make the line dashed and add little scissor marks like this ---8<----8<--- That's just my sense of humor.

There are other images that I am not putting up of echo cardiograms they did in this process. To do those, they put the probe to get the images of the heart down his throat to get a view from behind the heart. Think about that... He has a breathing tube in place, a drainage tube from his stomach. And then they fit a probe down there? Crazy...

Here they have finished with prep and are ready to make the incision:

They have completed the incision and are working to expose the sternum so that they can cut through that:

Here is Samuel's heart:
It is the large sort of blob in the upper area of the incision. It's not very clearly defined as most of are used to seeing. Most of us aren't used to seeing a heart where it belongs, in the chest.

This image shows them opening up the right atrium to get to the area that needs attention. The ribbed hose to the right is one of the canulas that takes blood to / from the heart lung machine:

Here is the first piece of muscle tissue that was removed from the heart:

When you look at his incision, and then look at what the doctors are doing in his chest, and all of the hoses, tools, clamps, and hands...

I believe that Dr. Silverman who took the pictures was behind a screen in an adjacent room taking these pictures. That means that the camera is mounted on a platform or something.

While I muse at the chest opening and all the hands and tools in there, etc., now we get into the heart. They have tools and such in there. A yet smaller opening. This is a closer view of the opening in the right atrium as they get into the right ventricle to remove more tissue:

Yep, there it is:

Here they are backing out of the heart:

Then, the opening is closed off with a patch:
I wasn't aware that they were going to do that. I figured that they would close the wound with a seam. Perhaps they cut a piece of tissue away from the atrium to do the work. Unknown at this point. I would have requested the material like the last time if I had known.

I put these up as a part of my process of dealing with the whole thing. This has been very challenging for us as a family and for Samuel individually.

He is out doing laps around the hospital right now. He wanted to get out and this is a good sign. This is the desired outcome. It is also what was unknown only a week ago. Going in, I put my trust in the surgeons and science. I went into this knowing that this was the best place for him to be. The doctors have done this and more before.

I put my faith in God to work for the surgeons to be skillful and for Samuel to be strong, brave, and hopeful. Those prayers have been answered.

God has worked miracles here, most of which I am unaware. That Samuel and his sister were entrusted to us to raise, teach, and care for, is a miracle. That we are here now, in a place where technology, resources, knowledge, and skill exist is the biggest miracle for Samuel. How many other babies in the world are there with similar or even less challenging issues, that can't get care at all?

Are you Blood Type O- ("Oh" Negative)?

Update (10:00 AM): I spoke with someone at the surgeon's office and they state that they will need 4 pints of blood for his surgery. They didn't seem too worried about any potential lack of blood. If you want to give and are O-, go 3 days prior to the surgery (surgery is on May 1, so that would be Monday, 28.Apr.08) and note that the donation is for Samuel Hinojosa. It will cost $100 as it is a targeted donation, so this it totally optional to target the donation. If you want to just help out, donate blood and do not request that it be targeted for him. (end of Update)

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This all came up because the wife of a holy man I know said in an email message in response to one of my earlier posts, "So what is Samuel's blood type? I'm a wuss that never gave blood, but for Samuel I would." Samuel's blood type is O- and that means that you can only take blood of the exact same type, hence quantities of this blood type are typically in low supply.

Rowena found that the Stanford Blood Center has their inventory of blood supplies on-line! How awesome is that? Well, it is awesome (like - cool), but also scary (like, dang - they are short!)

To do the sort of surgery that will be done on Samuel requires an extraordinary amount of blood. This is because when they do this procedure, the heart is stopped. A machine called a Heart Lung Machine does the work of the heart and lungs. It pumps the blood though the body and oxygenates the blood. This Google search has tons of information on the machine.

It is this piece of technology that made open heart surgery possible. The problem is that the machine itself need a lot of blood to prime. A lot of information on this is on a page I'll link to here in a moment. However, there is an image of a heart with the hoses attached, so if such a graphic will upset you, don't go to that article! Here is the article.

I am a believer in donating blood and have donated over 2 gallons of blood over time. I have nothing on my brother Jorge who has donated over 8 gallons. This is his personal mission and to that mission he is ever faithful. Blood is a gift that he gives in massive quantities. Blood centers around the world are always in need of blood, so please give when you are able.

At any rate, if at this time, you are blood type O- and would be interested in making a specific donation for Samuel, see the update above! There is a designated donation process at the Stanford Blood Center that is documented here. Rowena is going to call the center today to get more specifics and will find out if we can setup a targeted giving process for Samuel's surgery. I'm not sure it is needed, but in looking at the chart on the inventory link, I'm a little concerned.

Fell free to give us a call - you know our number, if not, leave a comment on this blog article and your name. Odds are we have your number, or email address and can connect. Either way, I'll be putting up another article once we learn more on that process and if we will have something setup.