cardiac whata huh???

our little beckam was born with 3 small holes in his heart. after an ultrasound, our family doctor said they were the type that would probably close up on their own though, so we left to portland assuming that's what would happen.....wrong! after discovering some serious bronchiolitis during our visit last summer, the holes in his heart were deemed to be more than the kind that just close up on their own. he had a 5mm hole, and we were sent up to calgary to see a pediatric cardiologist. dr. clegg has been awesome, and we have been up to the children's hospital numerous times for echos and ecg's and x-rays and check-ins with her.

 

the hole has never seemed to cause him any pain or worries besides being winded a little easier than other kids his age, and dr. clegg guessed that it would probably start to close and cause no more hassle than a few more appointments with her. after our last appointment though, we got a call and were informed that beckam's heart issues weren't so black and white. the hole is fairly small, but his heart is quite enlarged which was somewhat confusing. so......beckam got scheduled for a little day surgery called a cardiac catheterization at the children's hospital for june 15th. we got all the details on the surgery and were rather excited to find out that we would know whether something more needed to be done to fix his heart or whether it looked like it would heal on its own in time. sadly, dust had finals during the scheduled surgery, so me and becks flew home early, my mom took off work, we stayed at my aunt's in calgary, and we headed over to the hospital for admitting at 5:30am! here is becks pretending to call dad to say good morning on the way over. he woke up so happy and was a total champ :) hello???

 

we got there by 6:30 and then hung out til the nurse came around an hour or so later. thankfully, they had some toys, and becks was all about his cool crib and his new clothes and the fun books they had!

 

 

he wasn't so into anything to do with doctors or nurses though (like usual - i think he's been to the hospital one too many times!). he hates the band-aid oxygen monitoring thing and the blood pressure thing and being hooked up to anything really!

 

after the initial vitals were taken, we were ready to go! me and becks went into the surgery room, and i got to stay with him while they put him to sleep with the gas mask. he got to keep his soother and blanket which was nice, but i'm not gonna lie - it was really hard to see him on that big operating table with all of those machines asleep, and it was even harder to leave him there. i thought there was no way i'd be shedding any tears, but i'll be honest - a few fell on my way out of that operating room. all of the risks flash through your mind, and i was just overwhelmed with love for my little man with a hole in his heart!

 

here's our boy post-surgery. there were 2 little holes in his groin area where they went in with 2 little catheters which traveled up a main vein/artery to his heart where they then did measurements and took pictures to see what's really going on.

 

we got the report that he did great through surgery and that it was successful in that they found what they were looking for which was such a relief to hear. the doctor came in to the waiting room and gave us the report and then asked me to go to the recovery room to help calm our anxious little guy down. he was freaking out and couldn't really feel his legs from a shot they'd given him. he was all hooked up to everything he hates, and it was just really hard to comfort someone in so much distress! he looked so sad :(

 

he calmed down quickly after he was loose from all of the cords though, and he drank apple juice like a champ and loved his barney time and slowly returned to himself.

 

he hated the washcloth taped over the IV, but he got used to it and was climbing around the crib like a monkey in no time! he ate crackers and wanted to play with the toys and was just as happy as could be - unless it was time to check his vitals of course!

 

 

i finally got him to fall asleep in my arms just before we got discharged, and he ended up like this on the bed. can you tell that we darken his room at home?!?

 

here we are - IV out, pj's back on, and ready to go home! it was a really long stay (we got to the hospital at 6:30am and left at 3:00pm), and we were all sooo excited to get outta there!

 

our goldfish lovin fool did great on the way home, and you seriously couldn't even tell he'd had surgery besides his purple polka dotted face from the broken blood vessels! guess they really tore that tape off there cuz there was a certain pattern to them too. anyway.....it was so nice to have my mom with me there through everything, and becks did better than i expected, and we left with answers and a healthy happy little boy. overall.....success!

 

and now......open heart surgery! dr. dicke (the surgeon) found that beckam's heart is quite enlarged and there is a higher flow of blood going on than they like to see which means they need to go in and close his little hole. we are really excited to have some closure to beckam's heart issues, but i'm not gonna lie...the stress level rises a little more every time i think about it. hopefully, it can be scheduled for dust's next break in school in september at which point we'll have a new little baby as well. the surgery is in edmonton, and we're supposed to plan on being in the hospital for 4-7 days so ya.....should be fun making all of the plans and arrangements!

 

above everything else though, i just love my little guy! he is seriously the coolest kid. he makes me laugh every day and brings sooooo much joy into our lives :) i feel so blessed to have him in our family, and i feel so blessed to have such great doctors and so much care and concern going into making sure that he'll have a healthy future. i know that things will work out for september, and i'm excited for his little heart to get all fixed up! whew! there is the report - sorry it was so long!

 

let's get on with summer now!