Alex

Alex was born on New Year's Day, a very beautiful baby boy. At about 20 hours old he was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary atresia, and an ASD. He was transferred to the University of Michigan and had his first open heart surgery at 8 days old by Dr Bove. They were able to close his VSD, place an RV to PA conduit, and unifocalize his pulmonary arteries. After 4 weeks of complications, we brought our baby home. He was on oxygen continuously and fed by an NG tube.

Exactly one week after being home, Alex started having trouble breathing and was readmitted and cathed the next morning. They found that his left pulmonary artery was totally closed. The following morning, on Valentine's Day, Alex went back to surgery and had a B-T shunt placed. His recovery was slow, and ended up needing another surgery to fix his diaphragm. A post - op cath showed that his shunt was already closing, and nothing else could be done to save his left pulmonary artery / lung. After another 5 weeks we were able to bring our baby home again, still on oxygen and tube feedings.

In June and August of this year we flew Alex to Boston to see if Dr Lock could open his pulmonary arteries in the cath lab. He was able to place a stent in the right pulmonary artery, which really helped Alex's heart. This allowed him to finally come off oxygen. The dilating that was done on the left side did not last and as of right now, the only blood that is reaching his left lung is from collateral vessels. Alex still has an ASD, which is needed because of the high pressure in his heart.

In November, Alex finally had a G-tube placed and is really starting to grow. It is estimated that his pulmonary conduit will need replaced in the summer of 2003. In the past year, Alex has been in the hospital over 4 months (mom too!).

Alex is now crawling and starting to "cruise" along the furniture. He really loves his 4 year old brother Noah. Seeing his smile every morning reminds us of just how lucky we are. We are so blessed to have Alex in our lives.