Levi's Heart: Post-Op Day 3

Monday, June 27, 2011

Post-Op Day 3

Levi is out of the CVICU! He is now in his own room in 3-West. Instead of having a nurse stationed at his bedside, the nurses are outside in the hall and help as needed. Each nurse has three or four patients. We're thrilled that we have our own room now! It's quieter and hopefully Levi can get some much needed rest.

Levi is making good progress. At rounds today, the doctors said Levi was still looking very good from a heart and physical standpoint. He had to keep the chest tube in for one more day, but they hope to get it out tomorrow. I really hope that's the case! It just looks so uncomfortable and makes mobility that much harder.

Levi is behind on his sleep, so I'm hoping he does some catching up tonight. And speaking of sleep, I need to get some too, so good night!

More wagon rides! His very favorite activity.

2 comments:

GentryJune 27, 2011 at 10:34 PM
Amazing it's only been three days! Seeing Levi with all the bandages and tubes really got to my mommy heart- I can't imagine how it must feel to see your baby like that. But, it is amazing how these doctors are able to do the amazing work they do. Praise God for this successful outcome and I will keep praying for your family.
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ChelseaJune 27, 2011 at 10:46 PM
Great news about his own room! Fingers are crossed to have the tube removed!
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Levi's Story

After a normal pregnancy, on June 18, 2010 our third son, Levi, was born. He was beautiful, sweet, and as far as we knew, healthy. Doctors and nurses who routinely monitored his vitals in the hospital heard a heart murmur but thought it was normal and would go away within 24 hours.

Everything changed the evening of June 19. Our regular pediatrician was on call at the hospital and after checking Levi's murmur, sent him to the NICU for an echocardiogram to see exactly what was causing the murmur. The echo showed that Levi had critical aortic stenosis, a serious congenital heart defect (CHD). Infants born with critical aortic stenosis have an aortic valve opening so small it is impossible for the heart to pump enough blood to meet the baby's needs.

Levi was quickly air lifted to OHSU in Portland, OR for an emergency balloon dilation catheterization of his valve. The procedure worked to open his valve a moderate amount, but it also caused a moderate amount of leakage of blood back into his heart. Tests also revealed that Levi has a malformed and thickened bicuspid aortic valve instead of a three leaflet aortic valve. Levi spent six days in the NICU before coming home.

On June 24, 2011, at one year old, Levi had his first open heart surgery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in CA. His bicuspid aortic valve was successfully repaired and his dilated aneurysmal ascending aorta was reduced. The surgeon also did a resection of fibromuscular subaortic membrane and supravalvular aortic valve stenosis.

Much sooner than expected, on March 21, 2014, Levi went in for his second open heart surgery to resect the severe subaortic stenosis which had aggressively developed in less than a year.

We hope that these repairs will give him many more years before another surgery is needed. The next surgery will most likely be a valve replacement. He is closely monitored by a cardiologist and currently has moderate aortic stenosis.

Other than his heart defect, Levi is THRIVING. He is strong, resilient and very active. He's doing great in school and loves biking, soccer, reading, and drawing. We love our little miracle dearly. He has already taught us so much about living in such a short amount of time.

To read more about Levi's story from the beginning, start here.