Haven and Tanya will be heading back to Seattle on April 15th to address her tricuspid valve leaking.  She will have preliminary appointments and multiple lab draws starting on the 16th to prepare for surgery on Monday, April 19th.  

The surgical and transplant team have decided that the best route will be an open-heart procedure, but it gets a bit complicated once she is opened up.  The surgeons are going to use a technique that brings the vessels closer together and place a band to hold the valve in place to reduce the regurgitation (the “leak” that allows blood to flow backwards back into the heart).  They will then observe the heart while the chest is open so they can see if there is improvement in real-time.  

If the leaking does not improve (if there is still moderate regurgitation), the team will move forward with a complete valve replacement.  They can not give a timeline regarding recovery after this procedure, so we have no information about how long Haven and Tanya will be in Seattle at this time.

I will post any changes if they come, but please keep Haven and her family in your thoughts as they prepare for this next procedure.