I'M A GRANDPA AGAIN!

[cjj]

Man, that's tough. I sure hope she does OK...

[egosheep]

Hoping for the best Paul. Please let us know how it goes!

[8mileshigher]

Our thoughts are with you and your family....

[simer4001]

...and I will be for the first time. Congratulations, Paul.

[johnallg]

Man, that's tough. I sure hope she does OK...

What CJ said.

[melibreits]

Sending my prayers up for Madeleine and the rest of the family....

[bigbajo60]

Prayers up for "la pequeña Madeline".

[tristanbacker]

Thanks to everyone.

Madeleine will be going into surgery tomorrow to repair a heart defect. This will take a series of three surgeries over 3 years, but prognosis is good.

Everyone's good thoughts are encouraged. Little Maddy and her parents need positive vibes right about now!

Don´t worry here in Spain there are very good doctors.

[shamustwin]

My congratulations and prayers, Paul!

[tooloose]

Congratulations, and prayers for Madeleine, you and your family.

[rickenbrother]

Paul: prayers, best thoughts and wishes for Madeleine and your family from Diane and I!

[ricmic]

Paul, you and your family will be in our prayers. Stay tuff Bro. Mark

[jingle_jangle]

Thanks so much for everyone's good wishes.

Madeleine's first surgery should have just been completed, following her transfer to Madrid's best-equipped pediatric cardiology unit, at a different hospital.

We are waiting for details and outcome--no word as yet. A long consultation with several pediatric cardiologists and some more imaging results, indicate that Maddy has a particularly severe version of HLHS, with the complication of undeveloped blood vessels to feed her lungs. This first surgery is to help her to live for another 6 months. Meantime she is on a donor list for a heart transplant. As soon as she stabilizes and a donor becomes available, she will receive a new heart.

We're all trying to keep on with our lives, while meantime being very much on edge waiting for news...

[jingle_jangle]

This just in from my daughter, Andrea:


"We have some good news. Surgery went well and the first hours of the post surgery are so far so good. The doctors managed to do all the items they wanted to do and also they managed to do so without stopping the heart which is great for her future neurological development

So team Madeleine has scored a first victory. The next step is the coming 48 hours where they need to stabilise her and take away the "external" aids they used during and after the surgery. After that she will be able to enter the transplant waiting list. Thankfully, Spain has one of the best organ donation rates in the world and excellent transplant success rates.

But that is another step and another day.

We will send another update soon, probably in the early part of the weekend."

Smiles all around!

[egosheep]

That's great news, Paul! I really can't imagine how hard it would be to handle something like this. We will all keep praying and hoping for the best.