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The good news was that Cody was a "pink tet" and they thought he would never have a "tet spell" and could probably wait until one year old before having surgery. Cody's body decided otherwise. By the time he was 2 months he was having spells and his oxygen was steadily dropping. At 3 months of age it was decided that his body would handle a full repair well, so after a scary episode when he stopped breathing, that is what we did.
Cody is 6 years old now and doing very well. He plays T-ball and does Karate. How wonderful to see our child doing so well. He will need another surgery when he is about 13 or 14 years old to fix a leaky valve and open up his pulmonary artery again. Until then he is enjoying life and being "healthy".
Our son is a miracle to us and we're very thankful for every day with him. (even when he's rotten!!) Cody's life has made us appreciate life in general a lot more and made us so thankful for our children.
August, 2004 Update
Cody is now 8 years old. He will be 9 in November and is doing very well. He still has the leaky valve and pulmonary stenosis but the doctor says he's holding his own right now and at this point he still thinks surgery won't be necessary until his mid teens.
Cody is much more aware of his scar at this age and is occasionally embarrassed by it, but not very often. He is still trying to understand what is going on underneath the scar. This summer he got a mosquito bite on it and scratched it until it started to bleed. He walked into my room very carefully and with tears in his eyes asked if his chest was going to fall apart. (because the scar was bleeding). I guess he thought it worked like a zipper holding his insides in!
He is a blessing! There is hope for your children, don't give up, keep on praying!
December 2006 Update
Cody just turned 11 years old in November 2006. He has played baseball for the past two years and LOVES it, and just started playing the saxophone at school. His heart is continuing to worsen as he grows so we just wait until it is bad enough for another surgery. At his most recent visit to the cardiologist we were told that his right ventricle had enlarged and that the leak from the pulmonary artery is worse but that we don't need to call the surgeon yet because it is still filling very well, considering! What a good God we have. We feel so blessed to have been given two beautiful children, one who has taught us so much about savoring life!
Cody has a true love and joy for life and for God. I think in some ways all of these special kids touch everyone they meet. I can't help but look at him and be so thankful.
October 2009 Update
Well, much has changed since Cody's last update. He is now almost 14 years old and has enjoyed many active years in baseball and normal childhood play. Now, however, the time has come to fix the leak in his pulmonary valve that has only grown worse over the years. He will undergo open heart surgery again for a valve replacement on December 14, 2009. He will then require new valves every 10-20 years for the remainder of his life. The doc seems to think this will be able to be done in a cath lab by then as some places are already doing it. We feel incredible peace at this point and I believe Cody does as well. He is nervous, as anyone would be, yet glad to finally get it over with and get on with life.
He is a great kid and we feel so blessed to have been entrusted with someone as special and wonderful as Cody.
