Dane Vincent

Dane was born May 1, 2004 after a very normal pregnancy. He was my third son and last child (I had a tubal ligation during c-section). The following day the pediatrician came it to say that he had detected a heart murmur, but not to be concerned because lots of people have them. They scheduled a routine echo just to be safe. In a matter of hours everything was turned upside down.

Not only did Dane have a heart defect, he had a critical one and had to be transferred two hours away to Riley Hospital for Children. He was put on prostaglandin to keep his PDA open and therefore remain stable. The cardiologist, Dr. Batra and cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Turrentine, informed us that Dane was born with critical aortic stenosis. There was a section in the aorta that was about 10 times too narrow rendering it useless. The exact surgery would have to be carefully decided by the entire cardiology board in their weekly meeting. Dr. Turrentine concluded that a modified Norwood with a right side Blalock-Taussig shunt would be the best route, even though a Norwood is generally used for children with hypoplastic left hearts. In fact he told us with the size of the aorta he should be hypoplastic but that he isn't because the size of the VSD allowed the left ventricle to grow. On May 10 he took the pulmonary valve off and attached it to the very tiny aorta so the two could work together and then he put in the right-side shunt to shunt the blood to his lungs. Dr. Turrentine said this surgery typically results in a hospital stay of 3 weeks to 3 months. Dane had a very smooth recovery and we were home in 3 weeks and 3 days. We would have been home sooner if he would have learned to take in all of his feedings by bottle and not through the NG tube.

On June 21, 2005 Dane underwent his first heart catheterization. This was done to see what the next surgery should be. The conclusion was add another shunt and wait to do the full repair, or do the full repair and revise it later. I wanted them to do the shunt because the hospital stay was 3-5 days and it was a closed heart procedure (without cardiopulmonary bypass the heart is not stopped). I, however, learned long ago that what I want doesn't really matter. Again the case would go before the cardiology board for a decision. For the first time since Dane was born I got my way, we were going with the shunt. Only by coincidence I'm sure.

On July 7, 2005 Dane had the left side shunt placed in less than three hours. His incision is, interestingly enough, under his left shoulder blade. Again smooth recovery and home in only four days. In two to three years Dane will have the Rastelli operation and possibly a revision 7-10 years after that.

I use to wonder why people would say "If I had it all to do again I wouldn't change a thing". Now I know, even though it has been an emotional roller coaster and a true test of faith. The smile on Dane's face makes the journey well worth it.