Dr. Tam

Dr. Tam, the pediatric surgeon at Cooks, called me this morning. He had not yet seen Tyler's echo but was able to answer some questions for me. He talked me through what the doctors would discuss at their meeting and what I could expect.

They met this afternoon to discuss Tyler's case and look over his echo pictures. Dr. Tam called me after the meeting to let me know what they decided....

-The coarctation (narrowing of the artery) is mild but will still need to be surgically fixed. We will schedule the surgery in the next two weeks. Before the surgery they want to do another echo to get more pictures of Tyler's heart. They want to get a better view of the leaking valve and a better picture of the coarctation. He said that his heart is contracting as if the coarctation is worse than it is. They just want to make sure there isn't anything else they are missing that would make his heart contract that way. He also said that the left side of the heart looks a bit abnormal. This could be caused only by the coarctation but again they want to double check. Often times fixing the coarctation will fix the leaking valve, so we are hoping for that. Once the coarctation is removed there is less than a 5% chance that it will come back. He said he does not foresee they will find anything else in the next echo, so I should not worry.

-Something I forgot to mention in yesterdays blog was that Tyler also has a bicuspid valve. This is something that often goes hand in hand with a coarctation. Basically our heart valves have three leaflets, but Tyler only has two on one of his valves. It's something that often causes no problem and many people have this and don't even realize it. The good news is that Tyler's looks good and is not a concern at this point.

When it is time for surgery we will go in the day before for a pre-op and they will do the echo at that time. Once the surgery gets started it will take about two hours. Tyler will then spend 2-3 nights in ICU with the other heart babies, and we should be back home within a week. Dr. Tam said that it is easier and better to do this surgery with an infant opposed to an older child. He also said that babies recover beautifully from surgery and by the time we leave Tyler will be good to go. He said we may have to give him Tylenol but nothing else.

It makes me feel good to be able to speak with Dr. Tam and that he is taking the time to call me and explain everything. It also makes me feel good that they are doing another echo to double check everything. I love that they are so thorough.

We don't have a date set yet but I will let you know as soon as we do. So, please continue to pray for Tyler, his heart, and the doctors. Thanks again for all the love and prayers.