Ryler did really well in surgery and everything went as planned. They were able to give him an epidural so that he didn't have heavy anesthesia which is great for a baby his size and age. They ended up stitching the valve off which is great too. This means there is no foreign object (the clamp) in his body. His ultrasounds and x-rays after surgery show that his heart is decreasing back to it's normal size! Dr. Yeh says Ryler has a normal healthy heart now!
It is simply amazing to me that About 60 years ago children with this problem (PDA) would eventually die from congestive heart failure because there was nothing the doctors could do. And about 10 years ago they had to crack the chest cavity and stop the heart to perform this procedure. Ryler has a 3 inch scar on his back and was pretty close to his regular self within 3-4 days taking only Tylenol (or Tyenol as the nurse would say) as needed. Thank God for medical advancements!
right after surgery
4 days later
Hopefully none of you ever have children who need to go to Tulane University Hospital but if you do their staff is amazing! This includes every person that works at this establishment that we encountered! Everyone was super helpful and happy even the lady that hit our car (worked there)! She was super helpful in the fact that she turned herself in.....thanks lady!
This was a very trying time for us but Chris and I discovered we can handle way more then we ever thought possible! This was the single most gut wrenching experiences of our lives. All of my friends and family who are more experienced parents tell me, "there will be more times like this when they..." but man did we start off with a heart stopper. Hopefully we are good for several years at least!
Special note from Chris:
(Hi all, Chris Here) I think I can speak for both of us and say we never imagined being parents would be this hard. I have never shed nor had to hold back so many tears in my life. Crying is not "manly" but I can honestly say it is different when it comes to your children. My heart hurt at just the doctor saying that my child needed heart surgery, let alone having to go through with this surgery so far from home and with so much drama (accomadations, mardi gras, car accident,...) surrounding it. No matter how strong we tried to be we felt so broken and helpless. I am sure I added some unnecessary years to my heart.
We made it through thanks to our super support system and for all they did! To both of our work places, friends, and family thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. And to our parents thank you so much for everything! We really needed you and you really helped us through that rough time!!
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