Broc is getting tired.....

About a week after Broc's surgery he was getting really tired and having no energy.We thought it was just him recovering from being in 2 hospitals and putting his body through all that stress. So we thought nothing of it but as a mom I had an inclination something was up as the dr said that he should be fine with in a few days. So I called the card and he said it has nothing to do with his heart as he just had the surgery and it should be fine.

So we accepted that as the dr should be right and we didn't want to question him.On Thursday I took the boys to the mall as they wanted to play at the play -place there.Broc started out fine and then about after running and playing for about 5-10 min came back and said that he was so tired he had to rest.So he sits down for a while and then goes back.That happened 4 times so I decided that he was getting really tired and we left. I called the card back again and told him what happened and he said that maybe he had a low blood count due to the surgery and to call the ped to have it checked out.

To us as parents that did seem reasonable that his iron count could be low.So Sat we had a full blood count done as well as a Thyroid test.The thyroid test was fine and the blood count showed that he was a little anemic but not enough to require meds.

Monday he was running with his around the house and had many tired spells as we call them.The same happened Tues and Wed. Wednesday I called the ped to see if I could talk to him about my concerns.He only called back later that evening and said that cause of him just having surgery he should not be acting that way and also that since he never had tired spells before the surgery then this was something new and had to be addressed. I asked him if a 3 year old could know when they were out of breathe and not act out.He said that 3 year olds will never stop for no reason as we all know.As we know we had to restrict all activity before his surgery and it was really difficult to do.The ped says to call the card first thing in the morning.

Thursday morning I call the card and leave a message and tell him that the ped said to come in.He asked what had been happening and I told him that we did the blood tests and they were fine.I told him about the spells too and he said come in right away.So I picked Broc up out of bed in his pj's and all and off we went.In the meantime Broc had spiked a fever of 103F 2am that morning so he was so hot with fever too.When we walked in everyone could see that he was not the bouncy little boy that was there a month ago.The card came in and checked him over.He did say that his murmur was louder than the last time he saw him but that could also be because of the high fever he was having.Anyway he said that besides the fact that he did not look well he could feel all his pulses and that was a good sign but didn't like the fact that he was getting out of breathe when he was really active.So we go into the tech's room and she does the ultra sound.Broc is so sick he is not even interested in the DVD that is playing.He was very sleepy during the echo.After the echo the card comes back in to tell me that we are dealing with 2 separate things.

First he says that he is clearly ill and needs to see the ped asap to find the source of the fever as it is putting strain on his heart.Second he says that his pressures are back up to 50 for mean gradient and 100 for the peak.Those are a little higher than before he had his surgery.So clearly the surgery didn't work for him.He said that he either needs a more aggressive cardiac cath or we are looking at open heart surgery to either repair the Aortic valve depending on what it looks like or maybe even replace it.

Well, with that news I was sort of prepared for something like that as I knew something had been going on.I think as a mom when you have a hunch that something is not right you kind of prepare yourself for the worst but we were hoping that his heart was fine and that it was just going to be a re-assurance that the surgery worked and his tiredness was related to his sleep-apnea from the tonsils and adenoids.

As we left the office he was talking to the surgeons and drs at Riley hospital to let them know his findings and what the next plan of action will be.

For now we are waiting to see what will happen.

As for the fever , when I got home from the card Mark was telling me that his neck hurts him and I felt his head and he was burning up.So I ended up taking both boys to the ped.He checked them out and said that they both have strep throat.That is number 8 strep for Broc this year.

I thanked him so much for listening to me and being so pro-active with Broc.He did say as well as the card that if we had left Broc and not checked his heart he would be in heart failure in a weeks time.Especially if we had not shut down his activity levels.They said that he could have been playing really hard or running really fast and his heart would have given out.It is a really thought to think of but it's reality.

So once again we are house bound until Broc has his next surgery so as to keep him as well as we can.Both of the boys are on antibiotics.

We thank you all once again for all the prayers and e-mails that you have sent us.Although we may not reply we do read every single one of them.They are really encouraging to us.