Greg is getting a new heart

As I type this Greg is under anesthesia awaiting the imminent arrival of his new heart. The doctors believe it's perfect for him. But let me start at the beginning of the day and get you up to speed.

Early this morning while Greg was still asleep his doctors contacted his family to tell them that a heart had become available that they believed would be perfect for Greg. They decided to let him sleep a bit before waking him and beginning to prep him for surgery.

Throughout the day Greg took various medications and gave a lot of blood, and had his central line replaced, all standard pre-op procedures. The surgery which was thought to take place at 2:00 was moved back to 4:00 and then 6:00. The last big step was to give a final visual inspection of the donor heart. On paper it was believed to be perfect and at 6:45pm the doctors evaluated it and concluded it was perfect for Greg. At that time Greg was anesthetized. His brother Tim tells me that Greg was singing "Rock of Ages" as he fell asleep and that his family continued to sing it after he was under.

At this moment they are awaiting the arrival of the new heart. It should be any minute at which point the transplant will commence. Because of scar tissue from Greg's previous open heart surgeries this operation will be more complicated than normal and will take several hours. All should be done by early morning Friday.

Greg and Elise did great today and had a wonderful day. The family was all together and actually had a really pleasant day. Becky seems really thankful for how everything has proceeded. They have the best team of doctors and great nursing staff including at least one believer who prayed with them.

We should have word of how the surgery went in the morning.

Greg is not able to have visitors, but would love to continue to get cards. You can send them to:

Greg Boros

INOVA Fairfax Hospital

CTU Room 305

3300 Gallows Road

Falls Church, VA 22042.

Finally, I just got a text from Greg's brother saying the heart is in Northern Virginia, so it really is imminent.

Please continue to pray for Greg, Elise, and their families. Elise specifically asks that you pray that Greg won't be awake for long while intubated, nor frightened for whatever length he has to endure that. While intubated they hope the staff will allow them to be with him to calm and reassure him. In his previous open heart surgery that was a particularly horrific experience that he doesn't want to repeat.