Yesterday we went back to the cardiologist for a checkup. It had been 3 1/2 months so we were curious as to how Dr. Robinson thought Ethan's heart is doing. Ethan weighed in at 9.6 kg (21.1 lbs.) and measured 29 5/8 in. His blood pressure and oxygen saturation (o2) levels looked good - his o2 sat was at 82%, which is about where it should be and the same as it was when it was checked back in March at the last appointment. Dr. R also listened to Ethan's heart with his stethoscope and all seemed well but they still ordered an echocardiogram (echo) just to be sure.
Ethan was a very good boy for the echo technician - I told Dan that the only time I've even seen Ethan be so still is when he's asleep! The tech laughed and said it worked out good for him! Thanks to Ethan's cooperation, the tech was able to get some really good pictures of Ethan's heart and after Dr. R reviewed the pictures, we were told that Ethan's the best looking HLHS baby he's seen in a while! The RV (right ventricular) function looks really good and the atrial arch that was repaired during Ethan's 2nd surgery back in January is still wide open so we are very pleased! We don't go back again for another cardiologist visit until September and if all continues to look good, we will start going in 6 month increments!
Thank you Jesus for keeping our son so healthy and having good heart function and for using the wonderful staff at UNC Hospital to medically "fix" Ethan's heart as well.
Well thanks for checking in with us. I'm off to put Ethan down for his morning nap then it's off to Mimi's house (my mom) to go swimming!
Showing posts with label echo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label echo. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Cardiologist checkup
Our cardiologist greeted us by saying, "well I think you set a new record for how quick you got out [of the hospital] after the Glenn surgery!". Of course this was extremely exciting to hear! Ethan weighed in at 15 lb. 6 oz., so he really hasn't gained any weight since surgery. But his doc's not concerned right now, since it's only been 2 weeks and I told him that we were all sick with the stomach bug the first week we were home.
Ethan had his echocardiogram done on his heart and the function looks great! The doc has cut back our Lasix (diuretic med) to once a day instead of twice. We go back again in 6 weeks for another checkup and he thinks by that time we'll be able to quit the Lasix completely - which will mean we'll be completely drug-free for the first time ever! What will we do with ourselves, not having to give daily meds, I can't wait!?!
Our next pediatrician appointment is on Monday, 2/11 for Ethan's 6-month checkup. Poor guy, they always schedule his appointments for the day he turns that many months old - what a way to celebrate, huh?
Well that's about all... poor Tarheels for losing to Duke last night, but we'll have a rematch at Duke later in the season so hopefully we'll be able to get bragging rights next time! :-)
Ethan had his echocardiogram done on his heart and the function looks great! The doc has cut back our Lasix (diuretic med) to once a day instead of twice. We go back again in 6 weeks for another checkup and he thinks by that time we'll be able to quit the Lasix completely - which will mean we'll be completely drug-free for the first time ever! What will we do with ourselves, not having to give daily meds, I can't wait!?!
Our next pediatrician appointment is on Monday, 2/11 for Ethan's 6-month checkup. Poor guy, they always schedule his appointments for the day he turns that many months old - what a way to celebrate, huh?
Well that's about all... poor Tarheels for losing to Duke last night, but we'll have a rematch at Duke later in the season so hopefully we'll be able to get bragging rights next time! :-)
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Heart Cath completed
We're finished with the heart cath! The procedure went exactly as planned - we got to UNC early Tuesday morning (7:30am), checked in with Registration, went to the Cath Lab around 8:15am, the procedure began around 8:30am and ended at 11:00am. Ethan was under oral anesthesia and woke up pretty soon after the procedure was over. After the cath, Dr. Robinson (Ethan's cardiologist that we see every month) decided to go ahead and do Ethan's monthly echo. The advantage to doing it while we were in post-op is that they were able to give him a little more anesthesia (this time through his IV) to put him back to sleep for the echo. The sonographer said he felt spoiled getting to do the echo on a baby that's sleeping because he could get a good, clear picture without Ethan squirming around!
We are so thankful that the cath went well. Recovery did not go quite as smoothly though. After the cath, the nurses and Dr. Robinson had a hard time finding a good, strong pulse in Ethan's right leg (the one that had the cath) so by about 3:30pm, they decided to admit him just for the night for observation. They put him on a blood thinner to make sure he didn't have or get a clot and we just sat by his side the rest of the afternoon and evening, waiting for a bed. Finally around 8:30pm, a bed opened up on the CICC floor - it just happened to be the same room that we had last time we were here! I (Julie) ended up spending the night with Ethan and Dan came back home to get some sleep and take care of our dog.
Ethan's heart is looking good so we're still on track for surgery at the beginning of January. This is good news to hear that he's still a candidate but it's also kind of make us nervous that it's only a month away! Dr. Robinson said that Ethan hasn't outgrown his shunt yet, and he's gaining weight at a good rate so we're fortunate that this 2nd surgery is "elective" as far as the timing is concerned. This is ideally how it's supposed to be done. The surgeons prefer to have the flexibility to operate on heart babies at the parents' convenience instead of getting to a life-threatening time crunch - praise the Lord! We should hear back from UNC within the next week with the surgery date. And if that's not good for us, we can reschedule. We also have to make sure Ethan's not sick at the time of surgery, so if it get's to be about a week before surgery and we find that Ethan's got a cold or something like that, we still have the flexibility to reschedule!
We are so thankful that the cath went well. Recovery did not go quite as smoothly though. After the cath, the nurses and Dr. Robinson had a hard time finding a good, strong pulse in Ethan's right leg (the one that had the cath) so by about 3:30pm, they decided to admit him just for the night for observation. They put him on a blood thinner to make sure he didn't have or get a clot and we just sat by his side the rest of the afternoon and evening, waiting for a bed. Finally around 8:30pm, a bed opened up on the CICC floor - it just happened to be the same room that we had last time we were here! I (Julie) ended up spending the night with Ethan and Dan came back home to get some sleep and take care of our dog.
Ethan's heart is looking good so we're still on track for surgery at the beginning of January. This is good news to hear that he's still a candidate but it's also kind of make us nervous that it's only a month away! Dr. Robinson said that Ethan hasn't outgrown his shunt yet, and he's gaining weight at a good rate so we're fortunate that this 2nd surgery is "elective" as far as the timing is concerned. This is ideally how it's supposed to be done. The surgeons prefer to have the flexibility to operate on heart babies at the parents' convenience instead of getting to a life-threatening time crunch - praise the Lord! We should hear back from UNC within the next week with the surgery date. And if that's not good for us, we can reschedule. We also have to make sure Ethan's not sick at the time of surgery, so if it get's to be about a week before surgery and we find that Ethan's got a cold or something like that, we still have the flexibility to reschedule!
Wednesday morning, Ethan's nurse found a pulse in his leg and Dr. Robinson confirmed it during morning rounds (about 8:30am) so he said we could be discharged. Well apparently, several patients on the floor were also being discharged because we were told we should be out no later than 11:30am but it took until nearly 2pm to get the discharge papers drawn up so we could leave! We were all exhausted when we got home and we all got a good night sleep (9 hours!) last night.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
November Cardiologist Checkup
Well it's hard to believe a whole month has passed since our last monthly checkup at the cardiologist office! Ethan still seems to be doing well. They did another echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart function) and from what they could see, the right ventricle (RV) functions looks good and there's minimal leakage from the tricuspid valve (same as it's always been). Ethan's oxygen sats have been remaining in the 70's - low 80's (although we could only get the sat to read 58-62 at the office today but that's because they're machine is about worn out so they're going to order a new one) and he now weighs 6.0 kg (13 lb. 3.5 oz.) so Dr. Robinson is pleased with his growth and heart function.
Dr. Robinson also told us we can stop one of the heart meds - Digoxin once we run out (which we ran out last night!) and we can also stop the Lasix (diuretic). So we're just down to one heart med - Enalapril (2x/day) and baby aspirin (3x/week)! He also told us that it's time to start the ball rolling to get ready for the next heart surgery. The 2nd surgery usually takes place between 4-8 months old, based on the oxygen sats and Ethan's weight gain. He's right on track for both for now but we don't want to get caught off guard when the sats start to drop so we're going to go ahead and book the heart catheritization for December and plan on having the second surgery a few weeks later (sometime in January).
Now that we know a timeline for the 2nd surgery, and we're getting ready to head into cold/flu season, we have to be extra cautious about keeping Ethan healthy. He needs to be healthy for at least 2-4 weeks prior to the surgery so that there's less risk of infection so we will keep him isolated from the public as much as possible from now until his next surgery. We should hear back from Dr. Robinson's office before Thanksgiving for the date of the heart cath and we'll let you know the date so you can be praying. If you've been following us since Ethan's birth, you may remember that he had a heart cath the day before we got discharged, so at least we know a little bit about what to expect. He will be anesthetized and will probably be sleepy the rest of the day, but it will probably be an outpatient procedure if all goes well.
Thanks for your continued prayers! Also, we want to thank UNC Hospitals for all the great work and personal care and attention they have given us. Today is the NC Children's Promise Telethon/Radiothon to raise money for the UNC Children's Hospital where Ethan spent the first 4 weeks of his life and we want to thank everyone involved in donating today to help make the this Children's Hospital what it is. We are so blessed to live so close to such a fabulous facility! If there are any causes worth donating to this year, this radiothon would be my pick - just to be able to give back to the place that saved our sweet boy's life! Please consider donating if you have money to spare - even a few dollars will make a difference for them. http://www.ncchildrenspromise.org/radiothon.shtml or 1-866-9-NC-KIDS.
Dr. Robinson also told us we can stop one of the heart meds - Digoxin once we run out (which we ran out last night!) and we can also stop the Lasix (diuretic). So we're just down to one heart med - Enalapril (2x/day) and baby aspirin (3x/week)! He also told us that it's time to start the ball rolling to get ready for the next heart surgery. The 2nd surgery usually takes place between 4-8 months old, based on the oxygen sats and Ethan's weight gain. He's right on track for both for now but we don't want to get caught off guard when the sats start to drop so we're going to go ahead and book the heart catheritization for December and plan on having the second surgery a few weeks later (sometime in January).
Now that we know a timeline for the 2nd surgery, and we're getting ready to head into cold/flu season, we have to be extra cautious about keeping Ethan healthy. He needs to be healthy for at least 2-4 weeks prior to the surgery so that there's less risk of infection so we will keep him isolated from the public as much as possible from now until his next surgery. We should hear back from Dr. Robinson's office before Thanksgiving for the date of the heart cath and we'll let you know the date so you can be praying. If you've been following us since Ethan's birth, you may remember that he had a heart cath the day before we got discharged, so at least we know a little bit about what to expect. He will be anesthetized and will probably be sleepy the rest of the day, but it will probably be an outpatient procedure if all goes well.
Thanks for your continued prayers! Also, we want to thank UNC Hospitals for all the great work and personal care and attention they have given us. Today is the NC Children's Promise Telethon/Radiothon to raise money for the UNC Children's Hospital where Ethan spent the first 4 weeks of his life and we want to thank everyone involved in donating today to help make the this Children's Hospital what it is. We are so blessed to live so close to such a fabulous facility! If there are any causes worth donating to this year, this radiothon would be my pick - just to be able to give back to the place that saved our sweet boy's life! Please consider donating if you have money to spare - even a few dollars will make a difference for them. http://www.ncchildrenspromise.org/radiothon.shtml or 1-866-9-NC-KIDS.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Cardiologist Checkup
All went well at the cardiologist today. Nothing too eventful to report. Dr. Robinson was pleased that Ethan's growing so well and that his oxygen sats are around 73-83%. With those sats, we didn't even need to have an echocardiogram done this time! Ethan has outgrown 2 of his medication doses so we were told to add .1 mL to keep up with his weight. We go back to see Dr. Robinson at WakeMed in Raleigh again on Nov. 15th. At that time, we'll start looking at when to schedule the 2nd stage of surgery (it probably won't be before Christmas!), based on Ethan's oxygen sats and his current weight. We'll know it's getting close to time to do the next surgery once his sats are steadily staying in the mid 60's to low 70's.
As for an update about our trip to the fair last night, we had a lot of fun. We ate way too much fried food - including the fried Coca-Cola (Julie's all time favorite drink!). For those of you who are as curious as we were about how they can fry Coca-Cola, basically it's a funnel cake batter whose liquid is Coca-Cola and then they serve it in a drink cup with Coca-Cola syrup and powdered sugar and whipped cream. Not very "Coke" flavored, but at least I can say I tried it! Ethan did well with his Grammy too. Despite having had his shots yesterday, he was pretty good while we were gone. Over night though, he was awake every 2 hours just fussing and crying (he has been normally sleeping 4-6 hours/night) so I (Julie) gave him some Tylenol and he finally went back to sleep until we had to get up for the cardiologist appointment.
This afternoon after lunch, Ethan ran a 1 degree fever so I gave him more Tylenol and tried to have him take a nap but he cried for over 20 minutes once I put him in bed. I finally decided he was not going to cry himself to sleep so I picked him up and he fell right asleep - he just needed his mommy. :-) Since he's not feeling well from the shots, I just let him sleep on me for as long as he could (about 2 hours) then it was time to feed him again. It was nice to get the extended cuddle time with him!
Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight and he can have a better day tomorrow. Dan and Ethan just went to bed and I'm headed to bed too. Thanks for your continued prayers.
As for an update about our trip to the fair last night, we had a lot of fun. We ate way too much fried food - including the fried Coca-Cola (Julie's all time favorite drink!). For those of you who are as curious as we were about how they can fry Coca-Cola, basically it's a funnel cake batter whose liquid is Coca-Cola and then they serve it in a drink cup with Coca-Cola syrup and powdered sugar and whipped cream. Not very "Coke" flavored, but at least I can say I tried it! Ethan did well with his Grammy too. Despite having had his shots yesterday, he was pretty good while we were gone. Over night though, he was awake every 2 hours just fussing and crying (he has been normally sleeping 4-6 hours/night) so I (Julie) gave him some Tylenol and he finally went back to sleep until we had to get up for the cardiologist appointment.
This afternoon after lunch, Ethan ran a 1 degree fever so I gave him more Tylenol and tried to have him take a nap but he cried for over 20 minutes once I put him in bed. I finally decided he was not going to cry himself to sleep so I picked him up and he fell right asleep - he just needed his mommy. :-) Since he's not feeling well from the shots, I just let him sleep on me for as long as he could (about 2 hours) then it was time to feed him again. It was nice to get the extended cuddle time with him!
Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight and he can have a better day tomorrow. Dan and Ethan just went to bed and I'm headed to bed too. Thanks for your continued prayers.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
5 weeks old
It's hard to believe that our son turns 5 weeks old today - my how time has flown by! This has been a busy week for us so I'm sorry for the long delay in blog updates. We had a great time Wednesday night visiting baby Shelby and her parents at the RMH. Ethan slept most of the time we were there and Shelby just wanted to play the whole time. We managed to wake Ethan up for at least a few minutes to get some cute pictures of the two of them together, which I'll try to post soon.
Speaking of Shelby, her surgery went well and recovery's going alright. They have a minor setback with her left diaphragm being partially paralyzed, either from the surgery or from the central IV line they put in her neck. Worst case scenario, another surgery will have to take place to work on the diaphragm and best case scenario, the problem will fix itself in time. So please keep her and her parents in your prayers. For more information on her, please visit their family's blog: www.caringbridge.org/visit/shelbyglover.
As for Ethan, we went for our first follow up cardiologist appointment on Thursday. Ethan's cardiologist - Dr. Robinson - also has a clinic at WakeMed Hospital which is only about 20 minutes away instead of UNC being an hour away. Ethan got all his vitals taken (blood pressure, pulse ox, weight and temp) and everything is looking great. He also had an echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart like we did 2x while I was pregnant with him). Dr. Robinson was very pleased to see that everything is working great. He told us we can cut back on some of his meds - give Lasix only once a day instead of twice and stop the Prevacid for reflux (only use it again if he seems to need it). By next month's appointment, we will probably be able to stop the Lasix completely, and also probably stop one of the 2 heart meds! We can also stop keeping the pulse ox on him all night long, and just do one spot check each day (usually when he's asleep).
Thursday night we went over to see Ethan's cousin's - Rebecca and Marissa - that live in the first part of our neighborhood. Rebecca turned 5 that day so we had a private little party for her. The big party with all her friends and the rest of her extended family is today (Saturday) but we didn't want to expose Ethan to all the possible germs of other kids so we're staying home.
Friday, the home nurse came to do vitals. Ethan now weighs 9lb. 4oz. and is looking great. His pulse ox sats are looking good - staying in the mid 70s where they should be for an HLHS baby. We will have the home nurse come twice next week as well, then probably cut back to once a week. Ethan's also doing great with eating - he's taking a whole ounce more per feeding (and sometimes that's not even enough!) than he did when he came home last Saturday (hard to believe we've been home a whole week already!).
Also on Friday, my parents moved out of our house and into their new house in Wake Forest (about 15 minutes away). So, needless to say, things were quite busy this week around here. For those who don't live locally and may be reading this, we had a big thunderstorm last night (Ethan's first!) with lots of rain and even some tornado warnings nearby but we're all safe. We got lots of rain, which we desperately needed because of the drought we've been in this summer. Now it's bright and sunny and slightly cooler today. Glad to finally be getting into some cooler, fall temps!
The only prayer requests at this time for Ethan are just that he continues to have good oxygen sats and that he continues to gain weight.
Speaking of Shelby, her surgery went well and recovery's going alright. They have a minor setback with her left diaphragm being partially paralyzed, either from the surgery or from the central IV line they put in her neck. Worst case scenario, another surgery will have to take place to work on the diaphragm and best case scenario, the problem will fix itself in time. So please keep her and her parents in your prayers. For more information on her, please visit their family's blog: www.caringbridge.org/visit/shelbyglover.
As for Ethan, we went for our first follow up cardiologist appointment on Thursday. Ethan's cardiologist - Dr. Robinson - also has a clinic at WakeMed Hospital which is only about 20 minutes away instead of UNC being an hour away. Ethan got all his vitals taken (blood pressure, pulse ox, weight and temp) and everything is looking great. He also had an echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart like we did 2x while I was pregnant with him). Dr. Robinson was very pleased to see that everything is working great. He told us we can cut back on some of his meds - give Lasix only once a day instead of twice and stop the Prevacid for reflux (only use it again if he seems to need it). By next month's appointment, we will probably be able to stop the Lasix completely, and also probably stop one of the 2 heart meds! We can also stop keeping the pulse ox on him all night long, and just do one spot check each day (usually when he's asleep).
Thursday night we went over to see Ethan's cousin's - Rebecca and Marissa - that live in the first part of our neighborhood. Rebecca turned 5 that day so we had a private little party for her. The big party with all her friends and the rest of her extended family is today (Saturday) but we didn't want to expose Ethan to all the possible germs of other kids so we're staying home.
Friday, the home nurse came to do vitals. Ethan now weighs 9lb. 4oz. and is looking great. His pulse ox sats are looking good - staying in the mid 70s where they should be for an HLHS baby. We will have the home nurse come twice next week as well, then probably cut back to once a week. Ethan's also doing great with eating - he's taking a whole ounce more per feeding (and sometimes that's not even enough!) than he did when he came home last Saturday (hard to believe we've been home a whole week already!).
Also on Friday, my parents moved out of our house and into their new house in Wake Forest (about 15 minutes away). So, needless to say, things were quite busy this week around here. For those who don't live locally and may be reading this, we had a big thunderstorm last night (Ethan's first!) with lots of rain and even some tornado warnings nearby but we're all safe. We got lots of rain, which we desperately needed because of the drought we've been in this summer. Now it's bright and sunny and slightly cooler today. Glad to finally be getting into some cooler, fall temps!
The only prayer requests at this time for Ethan are just that he continues to have good oxygen sats and that he continues to gain weight.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Thursday Night in the CICC
This morning during rounds, the Chair of Children's Cardiology spoke with me about Ethan's condition. He had a lot of good things to say. In fact, Ethan's whole team is quite pleased with many aspects of his recovery. He continues to eat like a champ. He has come a long way in that area. His heart rhythm and blood pressure continue to be in the near optimum range. Ethan has been spared many of the complications that often can lead to a very dangerous journey for HLHS babies.
One area DRs are concerned about is his oxygen saturation (we sometimes call this "sats" or "pulse ox"). Ideally, his sats should be 75-85%. Ethan's sats are in that range but only due to the assistance gained by being on oxygen. Each time we try to wean Ethan of the oxygen, his sats drop. Sometimes they go back up again. They go back up - they come down. And all the time to "safe" levels - but not levels we would want Ethan to be in all the time. When he sleeps deeply, his sats have been dipping below 70%. Again, because we are monitoring this closely, and increasing oxygen improves his sats quickly, Ethan is not in danger during these changes. That being said, Ethan should be off of oxygen by now. DRs don't know why his sats are fluctuating so much. To find out, Ethan has been having regular echocardiograms (bi-weekly at least). They've been inconclusive in regards to saturation but have reaffirmed that his heart is doing as it should be physiologically - which is great.
As an effort to learn more about his blood flow, internal pressures of heart chambers, and arteries and veins in the heart and lungs, a cardiopulmonary catheterization has been scheduled for Friday morning at 8am. There is little risk associated with the procedure. This procedure is done under local anesthesia and is performed in a special lab - not an OR. The procedure, in short, consists of threading a small tube with a pressure sensor on the end of it through his veins, heart, and arteries. Hopefully the DRs will be able to further understand the particulars of Ethan's heart, lungs, and the veins and arteries related to the two. Hopefully some light will be shed on why Ethan's sats bounce so regularly. His sats issue is the last thing that needs to be addressed and rectified before Ethan can go home.
Please pray for Ethan's safety, steady hands and clarity for all those involved in the catheterization, and that Ethan's sats would improve with no further non-medicinal intervention.
One area DRs are concerned about is his oxygen saturation (we sometimes call this "sats" or "pulse ox"). Ideally, his sats should be 75-85%. Ethan's sats are in that range but only due to the assistance gained by being on oxygen. Each time we try to wean Ethan of the oxygen, his sats drop. Sometimes they go back up again. They go back up - they come down. And all the time to "safe" levels - but not levels we would want Ethan to be in all the time. When he sleeps deeply, his sats have been dipping below 70%. Again, because we are monitoring this closely, and increasing oxygen improves his sats quickly, Ethan is not in danger during these changes. That being said, Ethan should be off of oxygen by now. DRs don't know why his sats are fluctuating so much. To find out, Ethan has been having regular echocardiograms (bi-weekly at least). They've been inconclusive in regards to saturation but have reaffirmed that his heart is doing as it should be physiologically - which is great.
As an effort to learn more about his blood flow, internal pressures of heart chambers, and arteries and veins in the heart and lungs, a cardiopulmonary catheterization has been scheduled for Friday morning at 8am. There is little risk associated with the procedure. This procedure is done under local anesthesia and is performed in a special lab - not an OR. The procedure, in short, consists of threading a small tube with a pressure sensor on the end of it through his veins, heart, and arteries. Hopefully the DRs will be able to further understand the particulars of Ethan's heart, lungs, and the veins and arteries related to the two. Hopefully some light will be shed on why Ethan's sats bounce so regularly. His sats issue is the last thing that needs to be addressed and rectified before Ethan can go home.
Please pray for Ethan's safety, steady hands and clarity for all those involved in the catheterization, and that Ethan's sats would improve with no further non-medicinal intervention.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
10:50pm update
Praise the Lord that Ethan's stats are still looking well tonight. For the first time since Ethan's surgery, one of the cardiologists took a good, long look at his heart through an echocardiogram (which looks like an ultrasound of the heart like the cardiologist did while we were pregnant). The cardiologist was very pleased to see that the heart's blood flow, the repaired parts and the Sano shunt added during the surgery all look great.
After dinner tonight, we took a mental break and went out to see a movie. We returned to see him after the movie and he was still doing well! The medications are doing what they need to in order to keep his stats stabilized, so we should be able to sleep well tonight, knowing he's still alright! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers for our sweet little son!
After dinner tonight, we took a mental break and went out to see a movie. We returned to see him after the movie and he was still doing well! The medications are doing what they need to in order to keep his stats stabilized, so we should be able to sleep well tonight, knowing he's still alright! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers for our sweet little son!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
32 weeks and counting
Yesterday we went to see the pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Cotton for our second echocardiogram of our son's heart. Dr. Cotton confirmed that Ethan still has HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) and spent over an hour and a half with us, being very thorough with his exam and explanation of what he was seeing on the echo, then in describing the series of 3 heart surgeries that our son will be having.
His first surgery is called the Norwood Procedure, and it will most likely occur when Ethan's about 3-5 days old. The surgery involves stitching the large pulmonary artery together with the small aorta, to make a new larger aorta. Then a small tube (shunt) is temporarily put in place to connect the artery going to the lungs with the new aorta. Then the wall that separates the top two heart chambers is removed (this is called an atrial septectomy), allowing blood to flow between the two atrium. The narrowing of the aorta is then opened and the connecting blood vessel is removed. As a result, this surgery helps the heart bypass the underdeveloped left ventricle, allowing the oxygenated blood to reach the body.
Even though we had heard all this detailed explanation from Dr. Cotton nearly 13 weeks ago, it was great to have him take his time with us and not make us feel rushed! We are thankful to have such a great doctor on our son's medical team and look forward to working with him for years to come!
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