Born July 24, 2007; diagnosed with HLHS and restricted Atrial septum; completed Norwood procedure 7-30-07 and Glenn procedure on 11-30-07.
What is HLHS? HLHS stands for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and is a congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart, usually the left ventricle, is underdeveloped. The left ventricle is tasked with pumping blood to the body, whereas the right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs for oxidation. This condition is usually caught at the 20 week ultrasound, as was our case, and a game plan is put into place for treatment just after birth.
The Wiki page is found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoplastic_left_heart_syndrome
Elliot had an additional diagnosis of having a restricted atrial septum, often called Restricted Septal Defect or RSD. The problem with this secondary diagnosis is that the HLHS repair procedure counts on passive blood flow to the lungs, which is dependent on having low pressure in the lungs. Having RSD creates a high pressure environment in the lungs which can nullify the effectiveness of the 3-stage HLHS procedure. The treatment for RSD usually calls for immediate surgery upon birth to open up the atrial septum to allow blood flow to the lungs and body.
So for Elliot's birth, that's what we were prepared for; birth, then immediate heart surgery to open the atrial septum, followed by the first of his 3 surgeries to repair HLHS. All the while not knowing if the RSD would even allow his lungs to function properly after the repair.
Where are we now? Elliot's doing great, getting big and developing normally. He's still on oxygen right now, about 1/2 liter 24 hours a day, and still gets most of his nutrition through a feeding tube. However, he's a happy baby...and we're happy to have him.
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Check this out...
Yeah, if you Google "verjaarsdag" (birthday in Afrikaans, BTW) I'm the first listing. I've been a little amused at the number of hits my blog has gotten over the past few months from people that have googled the term. So for those of you reaching this site because I'm the #1 hit for verjaarsdag...welkom, en het 'n loer rondom.
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Choking on Air
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
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And you were just complaining about not getting the link love...
With a record like this, you should start complaining about not winning the lottery.
Posted by: Jason | April 23, 2008 at 08:15 PM
Yeah, and I'm getting atleast one hit a week from someone googling verjaarsdag. That would equate, not to winning the lottery, but to finding 10 cents in the couch. That's my luck. :)
Posted by: Jabulani Jonny | April 24, 2008 at 11:07 PM