My son's open heart surgery
By Randi Topel (Greenwood)
Our son, Colin, was born in October 2004, at Saint Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates. I had to have an emergency c-section, so my baby and I were in the hospital for four days. On the third day of our hospital stay, a nurse notified me that Colin sounded like he had a heart murmur. She ensured Dennis and I that it was common and to just tell the pediatrician on his one week visit.
Our son's pediatrician checked him and referred us to a wonderful cardiologist, Dr. Deborah Bryk-Serva. We scheduled an appointment, and on November 15 he had testing done.
This is the day when our lives changed forever.
They said that his heart was enlarged and that blood wasn't flowing out properly. They were a little perplexed that he showed no outward signs of heart problems, his color was fine, his appetite was fine and he was a content baby. They told us to pack our bags and to drive to Childrens Memorial Hospital that evening.
When we arrived at the hospital, the staff did more testing and determined that he had a very rare congenital heart defect known as Aortico Left Ventricular Tunnel (ALVT). The hospital had only had one other case of this particular defect and did surgery to repair the patient in 1995!
They sat us down and explained in detail about the defect our son had and the procedure that had to be done. They told us he would need surgery the very next day.
On November 18th 2004, Colin underwent his heart surgery. He was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for eight days before when they moved him to a regular room. The next day he was discharged.
Colin was lucky enough to be discharged free of taking any medication. The doctors were pretty surprised about how well his recovery went and especially surprised that he needed no medication after leaving the hospital.
Our son is doing wonderful - he's strong, healthy and full of energy. Other than a scar, you would never suspect he had to have open heart surgery at 18 days old. He has his annual visits with his cardiologist. He has a slow leak from damaged valves that they are monitoring and they say is no cause for concern.
Without the help from all the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff at Children's Memorial I don't know what we would have done. This was the most difficult time of our lives and the staff there made it so comfortable for us. They are very caring and took the time to make sure all of our questions and concerns were met.
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Children's Memorial Hospital seeks philanthropic funding to enhance its programs and services. As a proud partner of the Children's Miracle Network (CMN), all funds raised in the Chicago area through CMN also benefit Children's Memorial. To find out how your support can help the hospital better serve children and families, please contact the Children's Memorial Foundation at 773.880.4237 or Foundation@childrensmemorial.org.
Last updated January 2009