Mikey's "homograft" pipe (donor conduit) has become calcified and obstructed. Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock tried to open the conduit with a stent in the summer of 2003, but the metal stent soon failed, actually breaking in half and letting the homograft collapse again. Now, Mikey needs another major open-heart surgery to replace the homograft.

May 27th, 2004 6:00pm ... Mikey is in Children's Hospital. This morning, Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb performed the open-heart surgery to replace Mikey's calcified and obstructed homograft. He replaced it with a "dacron tube" with a porcine (pig) valve on the end that enters his heart. One of Mikey's pacemakers stopped working, and they removed them both and replaced them with one new pacemaker, implanted in his abdomen. They have to split the sternum to get to his heart, then they wire it back together after the surgery. This afternoon, xrays showed that one of the wires had come loose, so they had to re-open his chest and re-attach the wire. He is still out, and of course, still on a ventilator.

May 28th, 2004 6:45am ... Mikey came off the ventilator about 2:00am, and he's watching cartoons from his bed in ICU.. we're thrilled!

May 28th, 2004 10:30pm ... Mikey managed a smile through clenched teeth. He got his NG (feeding tube) out today, along with a few other wires, then.. they sat him up in a chair for awhile. He needs to be up, so fluid can drain from the tubes in his chest, side, and stomach. And we read his "chapters" to him after he layed back down. Later, he got a visit from Miss Woods, one of his school teachers. He got nauseated when he tried to suck on a popsicle tonight, so we'll try again tomorrow. He MAY get his chest tube out tomorrow. He's doing real well, AND talking some. God is good.. Thank You, Lord!

May 29th, 2004 5:30am ... Mikey slept good.. had some pain and took some medicine with a few sips of apple juice at about 3:15am. The apple juice has stayed down for these few hours.

May 29th, 2004 11:00pm ... Mikey is sitting up in his chair in tonight's picture. Even with all those holes, and all that hardware, he manages to smile for the camera! Speaking of cameras, we almost lost ours today, as someone broke into our locker. Fortunately, we had just taken the camera out of the locker for a few minutes. Those pictures would not have been replaceable. Mikey is doing alright. He has had some bleeding around 2 of the 3 drainage tubes. He hasn't been able to keep anything down yet, but if he can get his chest tubes out tomorrow, he may still get to move to another room. He was moved today into a room that doesn't have a TV connection, so he can't watch cartoons :( Getting info from doctors at this hospital is difficult. They make the parents leave the ICU when they come to make their rounds! But.. Mikey looks good.. better every time we see him. We're looking forward to a better day yet, tomorrow. Thank You, Lord!

May 30th, 2004 6:00am ... Mikey had a few more stomach problems last night, and the saturation of oxygen in his bloodstream drops when he's laying down. He developed a skin problem called "subcutaneous eczema" amd took some pain medicine for that. There is no treatment for this condition, but it should resolve itself in time. He also has some "heart rub" and unusual heart sounds this morning, but doctors are not real concerned at this time. They are still planning on removing some chest tubes today. We are still encouraged. God is good!

May 30th, 2004 3:30pm ... Click here or on the picture above to hear Mikey's message for you. He is doing great! Not only did he get his chest tubes out, but he also got transferred to a private room. Now we can stay by his side, and he can get the Cartoon Channel and Disney (and dad can get FoxNews and use WebTV)! Mikey is getting better. He's standing, walking a little and trying to regain his strength. His xrays show that his lungs are a little cloudy, but if we can get him some exercise and clear his lungs before any pneumonia can derail him, he'll be fine in a few days. This is what we need to pray for, specifically: that Mikey will be able to keep food down without vomitting, aspirating or getting any pneumonia in his lungs.. NO FLUID BUILD UP, and Mikey will recover and be home in no time.

May 31st, 2004 5:45am ... Mikey just got some arterial lines removed from his neck. They had been surgically implanted and had sutures to be removed, but Mikey was tough.. even though it was 5:30 in the morning! After sleeping in a chair last night, the only part of ME that is working right this morning is my fingers! Mikey had an uneventful night, and he's rested and cheerful now.

May 31st, 2004 8:45am ... Up walking laps around the ward.. xrays clear, EKG good, oxygen saturation 98%.. we're talkin' early release kinda stuff. God is good!

May 31st, 2004 1:45pm ... Did 12 laps earlier.. Just came back from doing 15 laps with no shortness of breath!

May 31st, 2004 8:45pm ... Mikey has been up since 5:30am, walked a total of 50 laps around the ward today, and he's still up.. watching the basketball game. He had a low grade fever of 100.1° this afternoon, and it's 100.2° tonight. This is not real uncommon after heart surgery, but it needs to be watched to be sure that he is not getting ill.

June 1st, 2004 8:00am ... Mikey's temperature returned to normal last night. His blood pressure and oxygen saturations are good. They had to stick him 3 times to get blood this morning, which isn't any fun, but he is doing very well, and looking forward to a visit from his buddy.. Pastor Don, today.

June 4th, 2004 9:30pm ... Mikey needs urgent prayer. God has blessed us, and satan is attacking from every side. Our site has been down, and we have not been able to tell you that we have been back in Little Rock. Mikey's heart rate is high, and more importantly, his LEFT LUNG IS PARTIALLY COLLAPSED AND FILLING WITH FLUID. He is WEAK AND HIS BREATHING IS LABORED. We were allowed to come back home and pack suitcases. Mikey is guarded and fragile and may have to be rushed to surgery at any time to insert tubes to drain fluid from his lungs. Powerful diuretics were started today. They must work quickly. Please pray that these medicines work quickly.

June 5th, 2004 7:30am ... Mikey looks and sounds a wee bit better. He got some sleep, and appears to have maybe lost a half pound to a pound of fluid. He is deep breathing and using a spirometer to exercise his lungs with a fervor to avoid having the chest tubes re-inserted. Mikey still has 35 staples to be removed. None of these are from the main incision. Some are from his groin. Mikey has so much scar tissue, that they had to go into his groin to do his heart-lung bypass.

June 5th, 2004 10:45pm ... Mikey will be guarded closely tonight. After speaking to Mikey's cardiologist late this evening, they feel that Mikey will be safe through the night. The hospital will do chest xrays tomorrow morning at 10:45am to look at the fluid build-up on his lungs. Sissy, Mister Ed, and Rachel will be with us for the xrays and a decision may be made at that time to re-insert the chest tubes to drain the fluid. They will also check an incision that may have an infection.

June 6th, 2004 6:00am ... No change as of 5:00am. Mikey is still sleeping. I will update sometime late this afternoon or early evening, after the xrays are read.

June 6th, 2004 3:00pm ... I can feel a great burden lifting. Mikey's lungs were xrayed and look better to me. Mikey himself looks MUCH better to me. Praise God! I cannot speak for the doctors, but I CAN pray and believe that they will NOT re-insert chest tubes to drain Mikey's lungs.

June 7th, 2004 4:30pm ... Mikey had 35 staples removed from 3 different incisions today. He was brave, and.. tough! He held still and bit his lip, one at a time, 35 times, until each one was pulled out. The stitches were too deep where the drainage tubes were. They will have to be removed by a surgeon. His cardiologist will get an xray in the morning to check the fluid on his left lung, and the surgeon will remove the stitches from those drainage tube incisions. Mikey is doing well... Our biggest concern now, is still the fluid in his lungs. It'll be another long day in Little Rock.

June 8th, 2004 6:30pm ... Victory! After a long day, we're.. coming home again! There were actually 4 drainage tube incisions, with 7 deep stitches, but they were taken out today. 2 heart echoes were done, as the first one indicated fluid in the bottom of the heart, but he's alright. We'll be fitting him with a Holter monitor sometime yet this week. Friday he will get more xrays and a cardiologist visit will follow. Mikey still has fluid on his left lung, but we are doing everything we can to eliminate that and they let us come home.

June 11th, 2004 6:00pm ... Xrays still show fluid on Mikey's left lung, but not as much. We believe the diuretics ARE working. Mikey is doing well and he has a lot of energy. God is good. We're very happy with Mikey's progress after this surgery.

Thanks SO much for your prayers. Mikey is well enough, thank God, that we think it is safe to go back to a weekly update now.. Every sunday morning, visit http://MikeysMiracle.com if you want to keep in touch with Mikey and get the most current update.