Our Lil' Hero: A Full Heart

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Full Heart

There is the phrase of hearts being full, today Mason's is just that, but not as a phrase. I have not wrapped my mind around the idea yet but I am over the moon with the idea. The surgeon said he has a full, functioning heart. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe the advances and technology behind that. We were pointed in this direction a year ago and I know there isn't a place I would rather be from a facility stand point. Dr. Emani said surgery went very good, he did a lot of work and is please with it all. He did say that Mason still has a lot of collateral vessels in his heart and are not working in his favor, this concerns him. The next few days are very critical and they will watch everything very close, if he stays concerned they will take him back to the cath lab and coil them off. They will keep him completely paralyzed and sedated for awhile while his body adjusts to normal flow. He will have a long recovery but ultimately only good results are expected. It is crazy, I feel more emotional now than I have all day. It is almost like the relief of joy after a day of waiting. January 21, 2014 Mason went from "half a heart" to a "full heart".

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: Beautiful words to read! Love you all!; January 21, 2014 at 5:11 PM
Hilary and Eric said...: I remember the feeling. So happy for you!! Here's to a smooth, steady recovery for Super Mason!; January 21, 2014 at 5:26 PM
Mauri said...: tears. SO amazing!; January 21, 2014 at 5:28 PM
Molly said...: Thats so exciting! Thoughts and prayers will continue for the long recovery.; January 21, 2014 at 5:50 PM
Cheri J. Crane said...: What an amazing procedure! I'm so glad things are looking good. Our hearts and prayers will continue to be with you during the days ahead. =); January 21, 2014 at 7:20 PM
Mary said...: SOOOOOOOOOO great!!!!!! Congrats. You guys are still in our thoughts and prayers-Chase and mary; January 21, 2014 at 7:59 PM
Tammy Hopkins said...: Awesome!! Happy <3 Hugs all around!!; January 21, 2014 at 8:23 PM
Cherryl said...: I am so glad that everything went so well. We will still be praying that their will be no compications and no infection and that he will recover quickly. I am so thankful that his heart is whole. God bless you all.; January 22, 2014 at 1:58 PM

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A little about Mason

This is a journey through Hypoplasic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Mason was born on October 1, 2010 as what we thought was a healthy normal baby boy. At 3 weeks old we found out when he was life flighted to Primary Children's Medical Center that he was born with an Unbalanced AV Canal Defect that caused him to have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He also was diagnosed with 2 Large ASD's a VSD, a CoArch of the Aorta, and a small leaky Mitral Valve. He had his first open heart surgery, the Norwood, in the end of October 2010. After surgery his chest was left open and they surgically closed it a few days later after the swelling went down. He had his second open heart surgery, the Glenn, in January 2011. He did great with recovery and got discharged 1 week later. We had him home for 1 day then he was rushed back to the hospital where they found he had a sternal infection and had to open him back up and wash out all the infection and he had a picc line placed for 6 weeks for antibiotics. He had a couple of heart caths during that time, and echo every 3-6 months, and eye surgery.
In February 2013 we sent his records to Boston to explore different surgical options for him. We found out he was a candidate for a surgery called the Staged Left Ventricle Recruitment to the BiVent. With this surgery it would grow his left ventricle to normal size and then give him normal circulation to hopefully avoid him having to have a heart transplant. (if we didn't go this route we have been told with his anatomy he would need a transplant in his teens). With the help of friends, family, and strangers we went to Boston where he had the first of hopefully only 2 surgeries. He had his 3rd open heart surgery in June and right now his heart is growing and conditioning to be able to handle the load of the work that a normal heart does. He is due to have his 4th open heart surgery in the first of 2014.