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| Kyle |
Kyle was a blue baby. When he was born they knew something was wrong—he couldn't breathe, and his heart wanted to stop. They transferred him to a hospital with a level III NICU, where they found he had Tetralogy of Fallot. The following morning they took Kyle for a balloon cath to help his pulmonary valve open but this failed and he coded twice in the middle of the night, so they put him on Propranolol and in two weeks he came home.
Kyle was always blue around his mouth, then he started with the "tet" spells and he would get all blue and go limp. He was very hard to wake, so i took him to his pediatric cardiologist who immediately admitted him to ICU with saturations in the 40s.
Kyle underwent the B-T shunt operation, after which he got a severe blood infection. He was so swollen i didn't believe he was my baby—my 4lb, 6 week old baby looked like a 40lb 2 year-old. He didn't look like Kyle at all.
The nurses had to rotate him every hour so that all the fluid wouldn't build up on one side and make a large dent. He was in a coma for a month, then finally he came home after about 5 weeks in the pediatric ICU and was on IV antibiotics for 6 more weeks here at home.
Kyle's dad, me, and a home nurse ran IVs and gave shots. The nurse came out to help for a few weeks but then we were on our own.
In March of 2008, Kyle had his full repair—he was just 6 lbs at 8 months. That went well. The operation took 12 hours but he was out of the hospital in just 6 days!
Now Kyle is 2 years old and he is a happy very lovable toddler. To know him is to love him. He loves everyone and is not shy.
Kyle is currently waiting for valve replacement. His pulmonary valve is leaking so he is now in heart failure. He gets tired easily, but he rests—usually on me, and then gets right back up and goes some more. He is taking digoxin twice a day and we may have to go back on Lasix.
Kyle now weighs 20lbs and is 27 inches; his twin Tanner is 29lbs and 35inches. But kyle is bold. He is fearless, and he will let you know what's what!
