Anyone here had open-heart surgery?

My daughter had a baby 6 weeks ago--my first granddaughter. During a routine exam they found a heart murmur in the baby. What was supposed to be a very happy event soon turned to disbelief. Thanks to a nurse with no bedside manner or tact, my daughter and her husband found out that there was a problem with the baby and she was in the Neo-natal ICU. Upon closer examination they determined there was a hole in the heart, and it would need to be fixed via open heart surgery. I dont even like saying those words.
Fast forward to the beginning of March (now). Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday March 6. The surgeon is of world renown at Children's Hospital in DC, and everyone says "it is a procedure that they do a lot, so everything should go smoothly."
My daughter is being very brave and strong, and we arent talking about it much, but in private we're all worried. I was hoping someone out there has been through this and has some encouraging words. This might be routine for the cardiac surgeon, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) event for the family. The little lady just this week began smiling and showing some personality. I dont even want to think about if something goes wrong.

Here she is. Please keep here in mind on Tuesday. She can use all the help she can get. Thanks~

My grandson was born with a hole in the heart and was regularly scheduled for surgery... when he gets a little bit bigger.......
He is now 22 and has never had any surgery yet but they are now talking about him needing new heart valves, though this has gone on for a year or so.

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Good luck

We feel so helpless and scared at times like this, but God is good and I will pray for your grandaughter and I'm sure others will too. We'er here for you.

echnidna said:

My grandson was born with a hole in the heart and was regularly scheduled for surgery... when he gets a little bit bigger.......
He is now 22 and has never had any surgery yet but they are now talking about him needing new heart valves, though this has gone on for a year or so.

Good luck

Click to expand...

I spoke with a buddy who told me his son had the same problem. He had the surgery as a baby, and now 18 years later had to have a valve fixed or replaced. He was up and around 4 days after surgery.
Oh, to be 18 again. It takes me longer than that to recuperate after a hard sneeze!

OMG, that baby is beautiful! Never had surgery but my heart goes out to you and your family! I'm sure it'll all be fine!

Zipper

Rat'l Trap that is one awesome picture. Congratulations on the grand daughter. I spoke with a Radiologist friend of mine that works at Emory here in Atlanta and even though this is not his specialty he knows and here's a lot. As you have already heard the recovery rate is high and he said it will cause you more pain than the baby. My prayers are with you.

I used to work for a guy that have a murmur since birth. In his 30's he had a mechanical valve put in. He's in his 50's now, and his health is fine. Too bad he's not a nice person.

No experience with surgery but lots of experience praying man.....and I'll be doing that for you guys. Hang in there.

Hopefully what I have to offer will be some comfort to you.
I have had open heart surgery on two occasions, 8 years apart. The last time was about 8 years ago.
The second surgery was done at the Mayo Clinic by a surgeon that specializes in open heart surgery on infants. Obviously, I wasn't an infant at the time but there were circunstances that required this specialist. The point is there are docs that deal primarily in infant heart surgery which indicates it is not uncommon.
An infant will not suffer the pre-operation anxiety that adults deal with. They heal faster too. Your grandaughter has a problem that when repaired will be good as if there never was a problem. She has not suffered a heart attack with the resulting heart muscle damage.
Except for the discomfort resulting from opening the chest, she will do fine.

Your beautiful little grandaughter will be running circles around grandpa before you know it.

All will be good. My nephew was born with half of his heart badly damage. He had open heart surgery with in the first week and 7 more by the time he was 8. he is 22 now and a royal pain.

Beautiful...

We will remember you, your grandaughter and family in our prayers.

BTW, My wife asked me to print the picture of the beautiful little lady for her desk at work.

Lynn

Precious

It's a miracle what can be done when nature fails. don't sweat the small stuff even a crabby nurse could stand to benefit from the gift of grace. Never question if you should be who you should be based on the nature or actions of others. be who you should be based on who you should be. Follow the signs and do as divined That crabby nurse is not your master.

Boy, I'm so sorry to see her go through this at such a young age. Your family must be terrified. Kids are tougher than we give them credit for, they seem so fragile at that age but heal pretty well. Our prayers are with you.

If it is any consulation, my two Sons are twins and were premature and underweight, so they kept them in the hospital for a few weeks until their weight went up. We visited them every day and one morning when we went in the nurses told us "We almost lost Dan last night, he had some respiratory issue." It was like someone kicked us in our stomachs, but he got better and they are now 41 years old.

Please keep us posted on how it goes, we care.

Don

RT....I know where you are. It's been a long time since my experience, but it's all been good. My niece, was born with two holes in her heart. It wasn't caught until after she had a stroke at the ripe old age of 1 year old (this was in the 70's, so medicine wasn't what it is these days).

Stacy had open heart surgery before she was 18 months old to patch the holes, and we were warned that she would have to have surgery again sometime later in life. She ended up having a second open heart surgery between 16 and 17 to replace the patches.

The kicker was less then a year later, they had to go back and do another open heart surgery because one of the patches didn't hold.

The poor kid went through some tough times (three open heart surgerys before the age of 18), but never....never got down on herself. She was a trooper through it all (as a side note...after her third surgery my sister and I went into the recovery room to see her. She motioned me over to her, so I went over and bent down....she made a fist and bopped me on the chin with a smile on her face....the kid just came out of surgery and had all kinds of tubes coming out of her, and she did that....I about lost it right there, but I knew she was going to be ok!).

Stacy turns 44 in May, and although she still has some paralysis on her right side from the stroke, she is doing just fine, and still has the best attitude of almost anyone I know.

Since it won't hurt, I've said a prayer for your granddaughter and your family for the strength you'll need through the tough times

As others have said I have a cousin that was born with a murmur as well as had a friend from school with a murmur. Both of whom are doing well many years later. My cousin is now 25 and has some remaining issues, but that has more to do with other medical issues then his heart. The guy I knew from school has never had to have another surgery at all, it was supposedly bad enough they had told his parrents that a good outcome wasn't to be expected and he may not live past his teen years, he's now in his mid 20's. With the medical advancements even in the last 10 years it is amazing what doctors can do. Small children bounce back real fast from things like this and heal really fast.

My thoughts will definatly be with you.

Wow. The people on this site are tremendous. Your words of encouragement are making me get emotional for sure. I appreciate you thoughts more than you can imagine. The scientific side of me knows that this operation has been done more times than can be counted. "this aint the surgeon's first rodeo!" But the other side of me cant help but be skeptical of an operation on this little girl's heart that cant be any bigger than a grape. Just unbelievable what modern medicine has become. Interesting fact: Open heart surgery was apparently done first around 1940 to fix problems of exactly this kind. The problem is called Tetralogy of Fallot, which is a description of four problems that are usually (always?) found together. 70 years to get the procedure down seems like enough time, so I keep telling myself to be strong for my daughter and my wife. But I'm sure the waterworks will be in action tomorrow at the hospital.
Thanks again guys for your support. When we get through this I'll be back on the supporting side. Right now, I'm just close to the edge.

Hang in there RT....with the advancements and technology in modern medicine your beautiful little granddaughter should pull through with flying colors....things have certainly gotten better in the past 20 years...the things doctors can do today simply amaze me.....I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers.....cr

My 11 year old daughter had a hole in her heart when she was born but it healed shut. Was fine until last year when she started having boughts with fatigue and rapid heart rate. A pediatric specialist found an extra peice of tissue was re-routing the electric current around her heart. She had to have an ablasion which is a wire up through her artery and into her heart to burn away the tissue. Even that was a huge worry and stress for us. I teared up when she came to and am even getting choked up typing this. Things have come a long way Im sure your granddaughter will be just fine

My uncle had a bypass about 15 years old and he`s doing fine. I know it`s not quite the same thing, but I`m sure she`ll be fine.

ratl trapshe will be in all our prayers, as your whole family will be too...


i had not seen this til now-sorry