I wanted to start out explianing what exactly Mateo's struggles have been since birth...and will be throughout his life. Mateo was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). The very basics of this condition is that the left side of his heart did not grow properly and is therefore not useable. The doctors have to go through and change his blood flow by re-routing different arteries so that the right side of his heart does all the work. This will require a 3 stage surgery. Normally, the blood from the body would go to the heart, be pumped to the lungs by the right side of the heart to recieve oxygen, then flow back to the heart and be pumped out to the body by the left side of the heart. Since the left side is too small to work, the surgeries will make it so the unoxygenated blood from the body will flow directly to the lungs (directed by gravity) to be oxygenated, and then to the heart where the RIGHT side will pump it out to the body, therefore bypassing the left side of the heart completely.
Mateo had his first open-heart surgery on May 6th, 2008 when he was one week old. He had his second heart surgery on August 14th, 2008 when he was 3 1/2 months old and his third surgery (to complete the set) will be performed sometime when he is 2-3 years old.
While this will help him survive, I want people to realize that this is not a forever fix. The right side of his heart (of ANYone's heart) is not designed for this amount or type of work, and it will eventually wear itself out. How long until that point....is not set in stone. It could be a few years, it could be MANY years, but eventually (unless the medical world comes up with something new) he will need a heart transplant. So he is in need of continued and constant prayers. 20 years ago, there wasn't an answer to this condition and the babies were sent home where they only lived for a few days. We consider ourselves very lucky that his condition was caught early (only a few hours after birth) and he has the best team of surgeons and cardiac doctors that we could hope for.
As to how this will affect Mateo's every day living....as far as I know, it shouldn't be too noticable. Once we get through this craziness of hospital visits and surgeries, he should be able to have a relatively normal life. He will always be on some kind of medication and he will need to limit himself on physical activity (probably no contact sports, but we don't mind if he becomes a professional golfer anyway!) but he can run and play like any child. He has been doing great on making all his milestones and is developing right on schedule. And he has quite the personality! So funny...he is always making Mel and me laugh. :) We love him so much and look forward to watching him grow into a wonderful young man.
I wanted to include a website you can check out for further information on his condition if you are interested. There is a lot that I didn't add just for the sake of space and time, but it will go more in depth as to how the heart of a normal child works and how Mateo's heart will work after the surgeries. Check out http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/peds_cardiac/hlhs.cfm for more information. And thank you to EVERYONE who has been thinking of us, calling to check on us and praying for us. Prayers have definitely been answered.
Mateo had his first open-heart surgery on May 6th, 2008 when he was one week old. He had his second heart surgery on August 14th, 2008 when he was 3 1/2 months old and his third surgery (to complete the set) will be performed sometime when he is 2-3 years old.
While this will help him survive, I want people to realize that this is not a forever fix. The right side of his heart (of ANYone's heart) is not designed for this amount or type of work, and it will eventually wear itself out. How long until that point....is not set in stone. It could be a few years, it could be MANY years, but eventually (unless the medical world comes up with something new) he will need a heart transplant. So he is in need of continued and constant prayers. 20 years ago, there wasn't an answer to this condition and the babies were sent home where they only lived for a few days. We consider ourselves very lucky that his condition was caught early (only a few hours after birth) and he has the best team of surgeons and cardiac doctors that we could hope for.
As to how this will affect Mateo's every day living....as far as I know, it shouldn't be too noticable. Once we get through this craziness of hospital visits and surgeries, he should be able to have a relatively normal life. He will always be on some kind of medication and he will need to limit himself on physical activity (probably no contact sports, but we don't mind if he becomes a professional golfer anyway!) but he can run and play like any child. He has been doing great on making all his milestones and is developing right on schedule. And he has quite the personality! So funny...he is always making Mel and me laugh. :) We love him so much and look forward to watching him grow into a wonderful young man.
I wanted to include a website you can check out for further information on his condition if you are interested. There is a lot that I didn't add just for the sake of space and time, but it will go more in depth as to how the heart of a normal child works and how Mateo's heart will work after the surgeries. Check out http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/peds_cardiac/hlhs.cfm for more information. And thank you to EVERYONE who has been thinking of us, calling to check on us and praying for us. Prayers have definitely been answered.
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