MJ's Heart: 101

While we don't know the exact plans for next week, here are the two remaining issues with MJ's heart.

1. 1). she does not have a pulmonary valve - this means that her heart not only pumps all the blood it is supposed to, but it also pumps any blood that back-washes into her heart because there is no valve to stop it. Some people live well into their 40's with no pulmonary valve, but MJ's heart is already working twice as hard as a normal kids. The Doctors all concur that a valve is necessary. We don't know what type of valve it will be yet.

2). MJ's left pulmonary artery is too small, it doesn't look anything like this picture. This diagram shows a normal heart with the pulmonary artery is the darkly shaded artery running between points 1&2, branching off under the Aorta. The picture is from the perspective of looking at MJ's chest, so Left and Right are switched. MJ's pulmonary valve leans towards the right side of her chest, with the left being just a small branch off of it. MJ's surgeon would like to replace the entire pulmonary artery, to create a more normal y-shaped structure like this picture.

• The extent of the work which dr's will be able to do next week will depend upon what they find during the procedure. They need room for the new material, and good tissue to work with.

• This will be her most extensive work yet, we had hoped for 6 years that it wouldn't come to this. The flip side of the situation is that she is extremely healthy right now, her heart is strong, and if you see her on a regular basis, you know what an incredible spirit she has.

• This week is about keeping the family healthy, preparing for time away from work, and loving Makenzie up in preparation for next week.