Heart Surgery

[Tifosi24]

Sitting waiting to take the little guy in for heart surgery. I know he is going to be fine, but Dad is nervous. I will let everyone know how it turns out.

[Gnam]

Thoughts and prayers man.

[dando]

Thoughts & prayers, man. I know a few people who have gone through this. He's in good hands, I'm sure.

-Kevin

[nrc]

Thoughts and prayers for you and yours.

[SteveH]

All the best for your little guy.

[TKGAngel]

Thoughts and prayers with you and your little guy.

[Napoleon]

Best of luck.

[Tifosi24]

Made it through surgery and we are now waiting to see him in the PICU. The doctor said the fix was straightforward. More updates later.

[Andrew Longman]

Glad to hear it. I wish a speedy recovery.

[trish]

I'm glad your little guy made it through surgery. By the way, he is so adorable.

[Gnam]

Best news I've heard all day.

[dando]

:thumbup:

[Elmo T]

Best news I've heard all day.

This.

:thumbup::thumbup:

ICU nurses :thumbup::thumbup:

[dando]

ICU nurses :thumbup::thumbup:

Yup. Can't post enough :thumbup: for them. Carolanne's 4-week stay in the NICU was difficult for us, but the nurses there made it bearable. Just as they did for my cousin's son Aaron recently (born a month early). :thumbup: :thumbup:

-Kevin

[Tifosi24]

Pedis nurses are the best, it is great that there is one nurse per room, even if the guy is a Browns fan ;). Anyhow, the little guy is still sleeping, but all of his vitals are great. He had to have a smallish ASD repaired. We were not planning on an open heart procedure, but the surrounding tissue wasn't strong enough for a stent repair. We are hoping to get his breathing tube out tonight.

[Insomniac]

Happy to hear it went well. Speedy recovery! :thumbup:

[SteveH]

Great news :thumbup:

[Indy]

Thanks for sharing. This good news makes this day a little bit less awful. Very happy for you.

[WickerBill]

I can't imagine. What was the fix?

[Tifosi24]

I can't imagine. What was the fix?

ASD repair. Just got back to the hospital after a couple hours sleep. His breathing tube is out and he is already feeding himself and lifting his arms up, great news for recovery.

[SteveH]

:) :thumbup:

[TravelGal]

Sorry I missed a day yesterday and the chance to wish you well but so glad to read that you are all doing so well today. You're got a great little guy there.

I apologize for an incredibly ignorant question but is it, in the long run, better to have had the open heart surgery so that the repair is not a stent?

[cameraman]

Avoiding stents is often a good thing in the long run. Stents have a long history of causing problems years down the road.

[TravelGal]

Avoiding stents is often a good thing in the long run. Stents have a long history of causing problems years down the road.

Thank you. That's what I thought, although I realize that wasn't clear by the way I phrased the question. I'm not hitting on all cylinders today. Still numb from yesterday's travel combined with reading the tragedy news.

[Tifosi24]

The little guy has had a rough few hours because he has a sour tummy, but they have given him some meds, so hopefully that will help. Physically, he is rolling and doing push-ups without pain (giving me a heart attack), but that is totally fine and good. I think we just need to weather the next few days.

The stent of cathetar that they use to close these defects is an Amplatzer Septal Occuldar. Cameraman knows a great deal about research stuff, so he can fill some stuff in, but the thing basically looks like a thin mess yo-yo that is placed in a defect and then the heart tissue grows around it. Mini-Tif's tissues surrounding his hole was too weak (deficient was the word the docs used) so an open heart procedure was the only option. We were told there are three techniques to close the ASD during an open heart procedure: sew it up, sew it up using a graft of the pericardium, or use a little bovine tissue as a graft. Luckily, our guy only needed it sewn shut, which is the most straightforward method.

Long-term things aside, the main advantage to the stent/cathetar is that the patient has no scar, and most of the time our cardiologist who does them says he only needs to put a couple stitches at the incission point on the leg. Instead of a week at the hospital and a six week recovery period, I think it is a couple days and that's about it. Although, an advantage to the open heart is that Mini-me's hole is totally closed and within in a couple weeks his heart will be as if nothing happened (shockingly it was already slightly enlarged).

I sit and think that we are so blessed to live in the modern era, because I know that three or four generations ago there is a good chance I would have already buried my son. Even if he would have made it through his stomach issues, his life expectancy would be very low because of the heart defect among other things. Now, with very little work in the grand scheme of things, there is no reason he won't have a normal life expectancy.

[dando]

:thumbup:

-Kevin

[TravelGal]

I sit and think that we are so blessed to live in the modern era, because I know that three or four generations ago there is a good chance I would have already buried my son. Even if he would have made it through his stomach issues, his life expectancy would be very low because of the heart defect among other things. Now, with very little work in the grand scheme of things, there is no reason he won't have a normal life expectancy.

:thumbup: I so agree. And I'm so happy for you and Mrs. Tif to see such progress with the Mini in such a short time.

[Indy]

Thank you, Science. :thumbup:

[RaceGrrl]

Thinking of you tonight and hoping your little guy is doing better.

[Napoleon]

:thumbup: Great news.

[RTKar]

:thumbup: Excellent

[WickerBill]

Man, this thread just makes me happy. I'm so glad that everything went well and the road appears fairly smooth going forward.

[cameraman]

Screw the scar, he'll be able to show it off to his great grandkids when he is ninety.
:thumbup:

[G.]

Awesome to hear!

Thanks for the updates.

[Tifosi24]

Screw the scar, he'll be able to show it off to his great grandkids when he is ninety.
:thumbup:

I second that motion :).

[Elmo T]

Nothing else given for the holidays will top this for you. :thumbup:


Screw the scar, he'll be able to show it off to his great grandkids when he is ninety.
:thumbup:

:laugh:

My kids were very impressed with the scars on Roger Daltry's chest visible during the 12-12-12 concert.

[Tifosi24]

We are going home this afternoon! I would say less than 96 hours in the hospital is pretty good. Thanks to everyone for following this and the well wishes.

[dando]

We are going home this afternoon! I would say less than 96 hours in the hospital is pretty good. Thanks to everyone for following this and the well wishes.

:thumbup:

BTW, the best Xmas Christmas present I could imagine. :)

[WickerBill]

Modern medicine is good. But advances in surgery and surgeon tooling is astonishing. Very very happy for you!

[datachicane]

Great news!

My favorite uncle had an early open-heart surgery to repair a serious congenital heart defect back in the mid '50s and lived to a ripe old age. May min-Tif be as tough and ornery as he was.

[Napoleon]

Screw the scar, he'll be able to show it off to his great grandkids when he is ninety.
:thumbup:

Does he even need to worry about it? I had my knee stitched up when I was around in 2nd grade and at this point you can barely tell.