We welcome Broc Ethan Davis.Weighing 7lbs 10oz.He is a healthy little boy.Ten fingers and ten toes.Broc had a few hiccups with jaundice so he has bi-weekly blood draws.We had some concerns so we decided to change to another ped.The new ped was wonderful.He noticed a heart murmur.He told us to make an appointment to see a cardiologist as soon as we could get an app.So I called the card the next day and they said they were expecting our phone call.They had us come in on the following Tuesday.We thought nothing of it as Mark has a heart murmur and his seems to be fine.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning.I never knew what to expect.Didn't think that this was going to be the first of many visits to the card.The tech came in and took his blood pressure.I asked if his b/p was okay and she said that I had to wait for the dr to talk to me.We then went for the echo and again I was asking questions and again was told that the dr was not there but would call us if there was anything to worry about.The tech had a very serious look on her face and I could tell that she was trying to tell me something without telling me.
We we
nt home and enjoyed dinner.No sooner had we finished dinner and the phone rings.The ped was on the line and said that the card was going to be calling us cause they had detected some abnormalities with Broc's heart. No sooner had he told us that when the card was on the line too and the ped said that he would let the card explain it all to us.Well I just sat there holding the phone as he is telling us that Broc has Severe Aortic Stenosis, an Abnormal Mitral Valve and that the left side of his heart is significantly enlarged and that he is booked for a cardiac cath in 2 days.We were shocked as parents.You never think anything is going to be wrong with your son. The card explained as best he could how his heart works differently to ours. What the procedure entails and how it will effect him.Broc was running a slight fever that day and the ped also said that we need to take him to the ER asap so that he can be looked at.When we got there we told them that we had just been given the news about his CHD and that we are very worried.They wanted to run all sorts of tests on him as well as a spinal tap.We refused and said that we didn't want anything done to him cause he was scheduled to have the cath done in 2 days.The re-checked his temp and it was down so they sent us home with info. on Aortic stenosis .When we got home we called our parents to tell them the devastating news.My husbands parents came over to be with us and keep asking how does this happen?
We really felt helpless as we had no answers ourselves.The night before more family came over to see him and say goodbye.We held him the whole night and people passed him around like he was a precious gift.
Thursday morning we left really early in the morning as we live 3.5 hours away from the hospital.We had family going with us for support and to help look after Mark.
Once we got to the cath lab the surgeon explained the whole procedure to us and drew us pictures to show us what his heart looks like and what a normal heart looks like so we can compare the two.We said prayers and changed him into the hospital gown.The hardest thing we had to do was hand him to the nurse.He was only 8 weeks old at the time and we weren't sure if we were going to see him again.The procedure took 4.5 hours long.It was the longest 4.5 hours of our lives.During the waiting we were playing with Mark and keeping him busy so as to try and not think about the surgery.
The dr came out and told us that it was really scary for a while as his b/p had dropped into the 30's.The had to give him a bunch of meds to bring it back up again.He also said that his valve did not like the ballooning at all but it worked out in the end.He said that there was a little bit of co-arc but nothing too serious and that the card should follow that.
