Guys, Jack needs the prayer of Gods people. He is still having the Tachycardia. And in addition to that, the cardiologist informed us a few weeks ago that he is facing Open Heart Surgery in a year or two due to another issue unrelated to the Tachycardia. I know how most folks (me included) don’t like long posts; So, I am making this one short. However, the next post outlines everything we are facing in greater detail for those that don’t mind a long read.
Bottom line, my 9 month old baby boy, Jack needs God to heal his heart. He has Super Ventricular Tachycardia and he has a membrane growing in the left ventricle that will eventually interrupt blood flow thru his heart.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
As most of you regulars on here know, my baby boy Jack has a heart condition called Super Ventricular Tachycardia. I cannot tell you all how much your prayers sustained us thru some pretty dark days last year when we were having regular attacks and regular trips to the emergency room.
For those that don’t know, SVT is a condition that causes the heart to race over 300 beats per minute and can be very dangerous. The first line treatment is to place a bag of ice over the face, rotate the baby’s head forward and press down with tremendous force. It is a barbaric looking thing and you cannot imagine what it does to a mom or a dad to watch it being done.
If that fails to stop the SVT, the second line treatment is an injection of a very dangerous drug that will slow the heart rate. The problem is that and IV has to be started but SVT causes the veins to collapse. We watched as real pediatric pro’s failed over and over to get a line started. Sometimes as many as 10 sticks before they could get an IV started; all the while our little guy’s heart is racing so fast that the monitors cannot pick up the heart rate. The danger is cardiac arrest.
After 7 emergency room trips and 5 hospital stays (not including the 2 months in NICU when he was born premature), we finally got the SVT under control using 2 different medications. However, in the last few weeks, he has started having some SVT. The events have not lasted very long and we have not had to go to the emergency room as he has come out of them on his own within just a few minutes.
What that tells us though is that he has not outgrown the problem. The cardiologist has told us that 60% of these babies outgrow SVT by the age of 1. But in this case, it has been so sever and so drug resistant that there is a better than 50% chance (without a touch from God) that Jack won’t outgrow it.
That means that Jack will eventually need to have a procedure called an oblation. That basically means they will enter his heart via a vein and find the bad electrical pathway that is causing this problem and kill it. This procedure will cure the problem and is generally not considered overly dangerous (from a Drs. Perspective, not a parent’s…).
But, Jack has a complication. Jack has a thing called a Left Superior Vena Cava. That is an anomaly in heart physiology that generally is just another form of normal… Only 3% of the population has this but it generally is not a bad thing and people with it live normal lives with no complications. But the problem is that the LSVC is located in about the same general area as the GOOD electrical pathway and in patients with SVT and LSVC the BAD pathway tends to be located in this same area. What that means is that you have a lot of things in a very small area. So, when the surgeons go in to kill the bad electrical pathway, there is an elevated risk of also killing the good electrical pathway.
That would lead to Jack having to have a pacemaker for the rest of his life. Now for an older person a pacemaker isn’t a terrible thing. You can live a long time with one of those. But for a little guy, it means he wouldn’t be able to play in any way that would generally cause a heart to speed up. Can you imagine a little boy not being able to run around?
BUT that isn’t all. During our last visit to the cardiologist, we were informed that within the next year to year and a half, Jack is going to have to have open heart surgery. He has a membrane growing within the Left upper chamber of his heart. This membrane has the potential to interrupt blood flow thru the heart which would kill him. We are monitoring it very closely and thus far, He is OK but eventually it will be a problem and therefore, without God healing him, it will have to be cut out. That means open heart surgery.
Melissa and I want to thank all of you that have been praying for our little guy, and all of you what continue to do so now. We have a long road ahead. The good news is that all of the things that we are facing can be corrected and Jack can expect to live a normal life with no side effects from these things. The less than good news is that we have quite a few dangerous hurdles over the next few years before his heart issues are behind him.
Blessings to you all.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Well, I posted here the other day, but it went away. So I just want you to know that Jack is in my prayers; he's such a doll! I can't imagine what you and your wife must go through on a daily basis.
Praying for all Ferd and especially Jack. That beautiful little face looking up to our heavenly Father has to melt His heart! I'm believing for a miracle.
Our little grandson who will be 4 yrs. soon, was born with 2 defects in his little heart.
It was so scary, but what time we were afraid we trusted in the LORD. He had open
heart surgery at 5 mos. because a "muscle bundle" was growing and would have re-
stricted the blood flow. Benjamin has done great and is a healthy little boy, so full of
life and energy. God is GREATER than any problem we may encounter!
May He take care of your little Jack, in Jesus Name!
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