May 23, 2013 - 1st Update on Jason's Surgery

So, we had to be at Shand's Hospital (or as it's called now, UF Health) at 6:00 am.  Jason was taken back around 8:30.  They gave him happy drugs right after taking him back.  We had to talk to the surgeon and decide if they had to replace the heart valve that is leaking, which heart valve replacement procedure would we prefer.  The choice was an artificial heart valve where you'd have to be on Coumadin for the rest of his life, but it would be at low doses, or get a tissue valve replacement which has an average lifespan between 10 and 20 years.  After a long deliberation, we went with the artificial heart valve, but hopefully it won't come down to having to replace it.  They said they would call us around 11:00 when the bypass machine is started (pumping blood to vital organs while they work on the heart).