That proverbial "other shoe"

Around here it seems we're often waiting for that "other shoe" to drop.  Whenever things seem to be going too smoothly, we know something must be right around the corner.

As we thought, one of his pacemaker wires is breaking/broken.  He is in no imminent danger, as it is his ventricular lead, one he uses only infrequently.  It does need to be fixed however, and that means surgery.  Next Thursday, December 15, the surgeons at Children's will replace the lead and make any technical repairs.  From a heart surgery point of view, this is a straightforward affair.  From a human perspective, it is still very invasive - he won't need to be on heart/lung bypass, but they will still need to open his chest.  We're hoping he'll stay at the hospital only about a week and be home in time for Christmas.

Obviously, this is the oldest Tim has ever been facing a surgery, and he is nervous.  He's been having rougher nights, and he's worried about missing Christmas and snow.  However his attitude is somewhat buoyed up by the prospect of getting to order as much food as he wants.

So please, keep our family in your thoughts these next few weeks.  We'll try to keep everyone updated as time goes on.