Making a Change:

As many of you know, Don will be having open heart surgery on Wednesday, April 15^th at University Hospital.  He is in stage four of congestive heart failure, and has been in poor health.  A Left Ventricular Heart Assist System will be implanted (please see diagram attached).  The device assists the heart with pumping blood to the body, enabling the recipient to have more energy and have a better quality of life.   He is expected to be in ICU for two weeks after the surgery and will be in the hospital for one to three months.

He was admitted to the hospital this morning and is in Surgical ICU, room 227.  After a barrage of tests with more to come tomorrow, he is in good spirits and is ready to get on with the surgery.  Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 7:30am, and is expected to take a minimum of six hours to complete.

Yours prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Love,

Dottie & Brenda