Unsuccessful Cath = Surgery #2

We are home, tired and incredibly sad about how yesterday turned out. Evan spent 7 long hours in the cath lab. The longest any of his procedures, including his OHS, has ever taken. Eric & I, along with other family were on pins and needles the entire time. It seemed as if complications were the word from the get go. I hope I understood everything and can document it all correctly. The main vein that is usually what is used for the cath had develped thrombosis (clotted) from how many times it had been used I believe. They have other options but none that are as good. So from the very first call from the lab we were told they were having difficulty. They options they had were going through the right leg or the neck but ended up gaining access through the femoral artery in the left leg and was able to cross over into the arterial artery. They then called to say they were getting pictures and measurements and that the right pulmonary artery was measuring 12.5mm and the left with the stent 7mm so the plan was to begin the process to dilate the stent. We received many calls after that saying they were trying to guide the wire into the stent and were having difficulty finding a wire flexible enough to make the crazy turns that Evan's anatomy has in his left pulmonary artery - explained to be a very diffult S shape. On wire #7 they called and said they were bringing in another team of Dr's. We receieved another call within minutes after a team of 4 Dr.'s began working that they had guided wire #8 into the stent and were going to begin leading the balloon in. There were smiles through tears in the waiting room and the nurse seemed like a stressful situation had ended with a good outcome. We were still celebrating when the last call came that said, it failed. As soon as the began trying to lead the balloon in the wire came out and after several attempts the team of 4 decided that there was just no way to get the wire and balloon successfully through the S curve of the left pulmonary artery to dilate the stent. We were asked to come to the dreaded room of bad news and our tears turned into stares of disbelief. I kept waiting for a nurse or Dr. to come around the corner and say, "We are in, it's okay." Instead, the tired Dr. came around the corner looking defeated and disgusted. He explained with pictures that showed how many times they tried over and over and over to get a wire, any wire to follow that complicated S curve and enter perfectly into that narrowed stent and everytime the wire would not cooperate. The dreaded words, "surgery." He explained that this is our only option and that it would need to be soon. There are a few different options for the surgery although I won't go into them here until I understand them more myself. They are presenting Evan to the surgeon next Mon. at heart board and he will make the final decision on what would be best for Evan. Please pray for us... I cannot even begin to come to terms with facing surgery again.
We are so thankful for our Brave little boy. Evan is doing well - he woke up and wanted to go home but had difficulty peeing as he had been cath'd during the procedure and it burned. Once he did that through tears, we were able to leave. We got home late last night, carried Evan to bed and slept. Evan woke up at 5am and got sick. By 7 this morning we were showering and trying to remove the nasty bandages and packing from both legs as it seems both were attempted. I believe it took an entire hour but he is feeling much better now.
As I said, the board will be discussing Evan's case, I believe, next Monday. I know that there is a reason for all of this, although it doesn't seem fair at this moment. One of the options that were discussed yesterday could in fact make it possible for this to be the only surgery Evan has to face, the other options would require another surgery at adulthood. Please pray for the decisions being made by the team. Please pray for us to remain strong in our faith. Please pray for our hope to not diminish as we have been given all reason to believe the outcome of this to be fine although the road will be hard.