Hi Friends and Family,
Our oldest son Eric Chad is scheduled for open heart surgery next Friday November 14.
Ever since Eric was a baby the doctors talked about Eric having a bad heart murmur. They always talked about how children often have a murmur and than grow out of it. About a year ago we changed doctors. The new doctor thought the heart murmur should be checked out by specialist.
The pediatric cardiologist suggested further test. In May we went to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. They did EKG and a heart sonogram. At that visit he told us that he has a membrane or tissue below is aortic valve. Normally they monitor the patient but usually at some point you need an operation to take the tissue out. This type of problem is what causes teenagers to have a heart attack when they are playing basketball.
A few weeks later the doctor called us back and said he discussed the case with the panel of surgeons at the hospital. The consensus among the doctors was that it would be better if the operation would be performed sooner rather than later. The membrane is causing some leakage of the valve. Over time this could damage the valve and the valve would have to be replaced.
Eric is a normal healthy young boy with no visible symptoms of a bad heart. It was difficult to believe that we needed to put what looked to us like a perfectly healthy young boy through open heart surgery. Just recently he learned to ride his bike. A few Sundays ago our family walked around Shawnee Lake. Eric biked the entire 3 miles.
My wife and I decided to get a second opinion at the Children’s Hospital in Hershey. The Hershey doctors basically told us the same things. Finally we decided that the operation needed to be done.
About a month ago, we called the hospital and told them we were ready to proceed with the operation. For various reasons they did not get back to us for a few weeks. About a week ago they called and wondered if we would like to schedule the surgery in about two weeks. We were a bit shocked that it would be that soon.
Yesterday we went to the hospital and did the pre admission work. They took and EKG, an Xray, and did the blood work. We were proud of Eric when they did the blood work. He did not cry. He explained to me how he watched the blood go into the little tubes.
The doctors also explained the surgery to us the best they could. Eric is having what they call Subaortic membrane resection. Basically they open the chest and go through the aortic valve and cut or shave the excess membrane or tissue that is causing the problem. If everything goes well, this procedure will take care of the problem.
This is a fairly common procedure for a specialty hospital like Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh usually does several a month. It is still open heart surgery but one of the least complicated open heart surgery. The whole operation will likely last 2-3 hours.
The expected recovery for a healthy child is rather amazing. They will likely keep him somewhat sedated the first 12-24 hours but by Saturday evening he should be out of the ICU and sitting up in bed. By Sunday they want him moving around the hospital and maybe even walking. If there is no complications, the doctor said it is likely that he can home Monday. He might actually be able to walk out of the hospital by himself. Within 2 weeks he should basically be recovered. The doctor told us that Eric will likely be well enough to go to Thanksgiving Family Gatherings. They told us that we should try to stay away from crowds for the first two weeks and especially be careful so that he does not get a chest cold from others that have the flu.
My wife and I plan to stay at the hospital the entire time especially if Eric comes home on Monday.
I plan to update my blog at www.SethStoltzfus.com after Eric gets out of surgery and maybe a few more times.
Our family sure would appreciate your prayers.
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One Response:
June 13th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I never read blogs I am just researching and yours touched me. My heart goes out to your son. Our son, Spencer is due to have open heart surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2 weeks. We are a little freaked out. He is 18 months old and he is having a ventricular septal defect repaired (patching a hole in his heart) and having the tissue that blocks his pulmonary artery trimmed away. Like your son’s case, they had their consultation with the surgeons and they said surgery (exact words) better done sooner than later. Spencer is not symptomatic, shows no outward signs of a bad heart, a contradiction to the inside. I hope that all went well for your little guy! I am just scared and I can’t help wondering how well the doctors are at Children’s of Pittsburgh? My prayers are with your family, as I know a little about how you felt at the time of your blog. With peace, Sunshine Pheasant (yep, this is my real name)