After an echocardiogram was performed on Ethan at CMH, his
diagnosis was Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF). The echo showed he had a very large VSD-hole between the two lower chambers
of the heart called the ventricles. This hole was where blood was mixing between the two chambers, causing us to hear
his murmur. It also showed he had a narrowing of the pulmonary artery, overriding aorta, and enlarged heart muscle.
Ethan had stabilized over the course of the day, and with the prostins running had been
able to be taken off all oxygen support within 12 hours of admission. And though the prostins seemed to improve his
condition, it was not a solution to the problem. Prostins cannot be administered forever-a more permanent fix needed
to be discussed. Our options were to have the cardiologists take Ethan to the cath lab and attempt to angioplasty
(balloon)the pulmonary artery, thus opening it up and allowing for more oxygenated blood flow OR he go to the
operating room and the cardiothoracic surgeons place a BT shunt to allow for better blood flow. The surgeons made the
decision for us, and opted to try the angioplasty first, and if it failed, the BT shunt to follow.
At one week of age, we escorted Ethan to the cath lab for the angioplasty. Dr. Hubbell
was the cardiologist to perform Ethan's cath, and within 2 hours he was showing us the pictures taken of Ethan's heart during
the cath and explaining to us what he had been able to do. He was able to balloon open Ethan's pulmonary valve considerably,
and we would just have to wait and see what would happen over the next couple of days after the prostins were turned off.
Three days later, the prostins were turned off and we waited and watched. One hour
later his sats were still in the 90's, two hours later-still in the 90's, three hours later-STILL in the 90's!!! We
were thrilled! After 12 hours Ethan's oxygen sats began to stablize and sit in the mid 90's. I think he surprised
everyone-especially the cardiologists!
To date, Ethan has remained very stable from a cardiac standpoint-for which we are very
fortunate! His complete repair is scheduled for June 6, 2005. At that time, the surgeons will place a patch over
his VSD, take down some of the muscle bundles causing the narrowing of his pulmonary artery, try to widen his pulmonary artery,
without causing the valve to lose any of its function, as it works well now, and 'take a look' at Ethan's mitral valve.
This surgery should be the only open heart surgery Ethan will need to live a long, happy life!
