Send Hugs, Positive Energy & Prayers
Please join us in sending virtual hugs, positive energy and prayers this week to handsome little man, Sammy (Samson) and his parents, Eka (Erica) and Jay:
Sammy was born with a severe congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), and after two life-saving surgeries, is now proceeding to the next phase of his treatment, which begins with a cardiac catheterization.
Your thoughts should focus on Sammy having a smooth, trouble-free catheterization procedure, and one that results in the news that he is a good candidate for the Fontan procedure, the third of the three surgeries used to manage his condition.
Sammy’s already successfully had the Nordwood procedure within days of being born (without that surgery, HLHS is fatal shortly after birth) and the bi-directional Glenn procedure around one year old. Now, he needs the Fontan procedure:
“INDICATIONS
These children have a single effective ventricle supplying blood to the lungs and the body…. They are delicately balanced between inadequate blood supply to the lungs (causing cyanosis) and oversupply to the lungs (causing pulmonary edema). In addition, the single ventricle is doing nearly twice the expected amount of work (because it has to pump blood for both lungs and body). As a result, these children can have trouble gaining weight, and are also vulnerable to decompensation in the face of otherwise minor illnesses (even a common cold)….
After Fontan, blood must flow through the lungs without being pumped by the heart. Therefore children with high pulmonary vascular resistance may not tolerate a Fontan procedure. Often cardiac catheterization is performed to check the resistance before proceeding with the surgery. (This is also the reason a Fontan procedure cannot be done immediately after birth; the pumonary vascular resistance is high in utero and takes months to drop.)”
Today, Sammy’s doctors are doing the prep work (EKG, etc.); his catheterization is tomorrow (Thursday). If all goes well, he’ll be scheduled for his Fontan procedure sometime in May.
I have mentioned Sammy now and then (see all previous Sammy-related posts), and through their blog and Flickr feed, I have watched him thrive in pictures, videos and anecdotes. I’ve never met Eka, Jay or Sammy, but I consider them part of my extended “virtual family” and I think of them daily, even if it’s just to marvel at Samson’s strength and awesome personality (his folks’ aren’t bad, either {grin}!)
Please send your virtual hugs, positive energy, prayers and such their way this week — as it’s done so many times before, for Sammy, for Baby Nathan, etc. — it does help.
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erika said,
February 6, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Thanks, mama. You rock.