Duncan (2008)

Duncan (2006)

9 months old; one week prior to 2nd open heart surgery

Duncan's CHD was undiagnosed prenatally, therefore, his arrival was wrought with the stress and chaos of the unknown. Duncan was born at 40 weeks by an induced labor secondary to decreased fetal movement. Within moments of his arrival he started turning grey and had an oxygen saturation of 50%. He was intubated and transported to a children's hospital in Washington state ASAP. Upon our arrival at the children's hospital we were led to the "closed door-quiet room", informed that Duncan had been born with a congenital heart defect that was not compatible with life and were handed a series of consent forms to sign...an OR was being prepped and the doctors would do their best...

A successful foramen ovale septoplasty was performed on day one of life. Four days later Duncan had a central B-T shunt placed that connected his aorta to his pulmonary artery. Two weeks later we came home from the hospital.

A month later our family relocated to the southeast, and aside from a few unusual living circumstances caused by Hurricane Ivan, Duncan thrived. Unable to adequately latch on to nurse successfully, he has tolerated expressed breast milk well. He gained weight and strength.

At four months of age, Duncan had a catheterization in preparation for the Glenn procedure at a heart center in Atlanta. During the procedure the cardiologist came out and offered us an opportunity to participate in a relatively new procedure, a pulmonary valvuloplasty. The hope was that with a successful communication opened between Duncan's right atrium and what tissue exists where his right ventricle should be, there was potential for some growth in his RV. The thought was that with some flow of blood into the RV it might eventually grow and Duncan could function with a 1-1/2 ventricle heart vs. a one ventricle heart. We OK'd the procedure and it went well. Having this done delayed Duncan's Glenn while we waited to see what change might occur in the RV.

During this time frame we relocated again, this time to the mid-Atlantic region. The hoped-for gains were not seen in Duncan's RV, so at nine months of age Duncan had the Glenn procedure done at a children's hospital in North Carolina. Other than some significant pain control issues, the Glenn went well.. The potential for some RV change remains, but is not likely at this point. It is most probable Duncan will have the Fontan procedure in the future.

I want ... that one!

Duncan is tolerating food now, something only possible recently. We think he may have had adhesions from his first operation that caused earlier feeding issues, and were released during the second operation. We are gradually expanding his menu.

Duncan is a joyful child. As the youngest of six, he has lots of activity around to entertain him and many willing arms to hold him. Trying to learn some reasonable sleep habits is next on the agenda.

God has been faithful through all of this. His strength and the prayers of many have sustained us.

November 2006 Update

Duncan is an active, talkative, joyful child. All is progressing as hoped for and a Spring 2007 Fontan is likely.

July 2008 Update

Duncan just celebrated his fourth birthday. He is one year and two months post-Fontan and is doing amazingly well. After clearing the expected, and some unexpected, hurdles with his Fontan recovery, he has truly become a poster child for this type of surgical fix.

Duncan is a happy, energetic, fun boy. He loves to play and laugh and run and laugh and jump and laugh and skip and laugh. He loves the pool and loves to splash and loves to laugh, some more.

He has awesome color, high O2 sats, a great appetite, good endurance, no speech or cognitive delays and has discontinued all but one of his medications.

All is well, Praise the Lord.