Tyler

Tyler was brought to the emergency room at the age of two months with a fever of 103 degrees. After a long wait, we were sent to the minor care where a "code blue" was called. He was in heart failure from his defects that had gone undetected. He was taken by plane to Tulane Hospital in New Orleans for surgery and spent 4 weeks in recovery. The team of doctors and nurses at Tulane are absolutely amazing in all that they do.

Tyler currently suffers from a pulmonary venous obstruction, which causes us to spend a lot of time in hospital. We will travel to the Mayo Clinic to have him evaluated and hopefully have surgery to repair the problem. During his evacuation from New Orleans, our cardiologist, Dr. Robert Ascuitto, contacted the clinic out of concern for our child.

March 2006 Update

On November 16, 2005, we boarded a plane (courtesy of Miracle Flights for Kids) and headed to the Mayo Clinic.  After a week of tests, and an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at the Ronald McDonald House, Tyler went into surgery.  His obstruction was cleared and he only spent four days in recovery, whereas we were told to expect two weeks.  I have never experienced people as wonderful as those at Mayo and St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota.  They truly have a gift in making people feel better, and always do it with a smile.

Tyler is now two years old, weighs 21 lbs, and looks as healthy as any other child.  He certainly has the same energy!  Our battle is not over, as his right lung has little or no function, but he doesn't let it slow him down.  Only time will tell if this will be the last surgery, but he has already proven that he is a fighter.  God has big plans for our little man.

May 2006 Update

Tyler has been experiencing some arrhythmia problems since his last surgery, and the doctors have discovered he has some atrial flutter, a not-yet-as-severe form of atrial fibrillation. He will have an electric cardioversion after a few weeks of Coumadin to shock his heart into a normal rhythm again. His heart rate is usually at least 140, even when he is sleeping, so they also started him on betapace in order to bring it down and give him a good baseline rate to come down to when they cardiovert him.