Monkey Musings Daily Open Discussion #11 6/12 - 10/04/2008

[bleachedblack]

Have a question hopefully a medical monkey can help me answer..

A 6 week old baby in the family(cousin) was diagnosed with a hole in his heart...

He was seen at a childrens hospital where the parents were told he also has LTGA and that his ventricles were switched....And something about if pressure or something wasnt kept up after his surgery for his hole that he would need a pacemaker....

Can someone explain to me in english--not medical terms  --What this means?

Hi misitx5. Very sorry to hear about your little cousin and his illness. Does sound as though he is in good hands. What he has is a fairly uncommon congenital heart defect. Your brief description above about the ventricles being "reversed" is fairly accurate. TGA stands for Transposition of the Great Arteries. It is a complicated thing to explain....... but vessels that take blood away from the heart to the lungs and the body are switched. So the aorta comes out of the right ventricle, while the pulmonary artery comes out of the left ventricle. This means that blood that already has oxygen flows to the lungs, while blood that needs oxygen flows around the body.

As to the "hole" in his heart, this is likely another defect ie an atrial septal defect or a ventricular wall defect. While this I know sounds bad, like "Oh another problem", it is infact a good thing in that without it having existed the blood would not have been able to "mix" and his initial defect the TGA would have been fatal.

With regard to the treatment ......they don't do pediatric open heart surgery where I work,so I am not all that up on it ,but the most common procedure is called an "atrial switch" and has helped to reduce complications which were once more common. One complication about which you wrote was the need for a pacemaker?If there is ventricular "regurgitation" , like a back-flow of blood to the ventricle over time this might be needed. These babies my also be predisposed to cardiac arrhythmia's and it is always best to have the support of a pacemaker in advance if the docs deem this as necessary.

I wish your cousin had not had this problem as it always seems so unfair to make ones start in life under such difficult conditions. But I know from personal experience that these little babies are much tougher than we all give them credit for being. They look small and even frail, and in your cousins case may have had some cyanosis or bluish coloring......but the will to live is strong and I fell confident with the love of his family and the excellent medical intervention he is getting his life will be full and long.

My prayers are with your whole family, and special prayers for your cousin.

[Sam]

Misitx5,

Bleached did a very good job of explaining about Transposition of the Great Vessels. She is also correct about the atrial septal defect, the hole. Without that the child would have died almost immediately. It is a safeguard for fetal circulation that generally closes shortly after birth but in the case of TGA for some reason it stays open longer. They generally leave it or keep it open until the infant can have the corrective surgery. They sometimes have to put in a stent in order to keep that septal defect in place again just until the correction can be made.



I do not want to mislead you this is a very serious condition. If the infant can live long enough to grow a little and be large enough to go through the surgery he/she has a pretty good chance of living a decent life.

I have a nephew who had his correction in 1975. He just recently celebrated the birth of his own first child. He also had to have 3 stents before he was able to have his correction. Hope this helps.

[misitx5]

Thank You everyone for your responses..I was so confused, so is the family..
I do have a better understanding now what it is..

I was wrong about the date of his surgery it is the 22nd of October...

The parents (who are only 22 and 20) were told that his heart is pressing on his lungs and that right now they cannot perform the corrective surgery for the ventricles, and that later on he might have to have a heart transplant...
Also possibly a pacemaker as I mentioned..

Also I didn't know until now but he has multiple holes in his upper chambers,but the doctors told the parents these would heal on their own, it was the hole in the lower chamber that was an issue..That was what caused the further checkup where LTGA was diagnosed..

I thought the surgery he was having was, to close the hole in heart, but maybe now that they found this out it is to put in a stent?

He did have that bluish coloring to his skin, mostly his legs..

Does anyone know if this is a condition that can be detected in an ultrasound, when he was in-utero?

My youngest is 2 1/2 and it seems they focus on the heart a lot...

Again thank you monkeys so much!!I have tears in my eyes you all are the nicest bunch I have ever met on-line!!!

[MuffyBee]

misitx ~ Please let us know how your baby cousin progresses.  Your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

[misitx5]

I dont think NG said that, that was my error but I remember reading something about the samples being suspicious or something I cant find the artice right now I am still looking...

[misitx5]

misitx ~ Please let us know how your baby cousin progresses.  Your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Thank You I will...

And thank you also for the thoughts and prayers he is so little..

PS I need to stop having 2 threads open at once its not working for me..

[2NJSons_Mom]

misitx ~ Please let us know how your baby cousin progresses.  Your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Thank You I will...

And thank you also for the thoughts and prayers he is so little..

PS I need to stop having 2 threads open at once its not working for me..

No worries about the misplaced post here....you have a lot on your plate....God bless you, your family and the little one.

[klaasend]

Klaas, Sitting, almost on a 3.0 jolt about 10 min ago. Did you feel it?

Sorry, OT

Nope but it there was one.  3.0 up in your area is small to be felt down my way.  I'll move this entire post to the Musing thread, OK?

[Shell]

Klaas, Sitting, almost on a 3.0 jolt about 10 min ago. Did you feel it?

Sorry, OT

IBE - no I didn't feel it but I see there was one.  we are deleting all O/T in this thread so I copied and answered you in Musings, OK?

I didn't, must be North or East of me, I am south of you. The jolts are sometimes scarey, the rolling ones are not so bad, as earthquakes go.

Shell - I'm going to move this post to Musing because it's O/T - IBE lives in the Los Angeles area so you and I wouldn't feel a 3.0....too small.

[515angel]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

[Kristin]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

I am here but I am all aloneeeeeeeeeee

[515angel]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

I am here but I am all aloneeeeeeeeeee

Nope I'm here, hope others come. It got a little rough over there tonight.

[Kristin]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

I am here but I am all aloneeeeeeeeeee

Nope I'm here, hope others come. It got a little rough over there tonight.

LOL i seen glad i wasnt there for the whole thing

[515angel]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

I am here but I am all aloneeeeeeeeeee

Sorry for misspelling your name..this was MT's idea, better show up LOL

[Kristin]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

I am here but I am all aloneeeeeeeeeee

Sorry for misspelling your name..this was MT's idea, better show up LOL

LOL trying to get her

[515angel]

okay, just waiting for Kristen, and Mt MM..I've read here before, but never stopped in.

I am here but I am all aloneeeeeeeeeee

Nope I'm here, hope others come. It got a little rough over there tonight.

LOL i seen glad i wasnt there for the whole thing

It's too bad there are no PM's, I would have reached out to MT

[marymary]

Great there's nobody here   

[Kristin]

 

[515angel]

Great there's nobody here  

I'm here and Kristin was too, we just popped back and forth

[Kristin]

OK well this is fun!!