Personal Update on Our Son’s Heart Surgery

Back in April I shared with you some personal and expected, yet terrifying news. Paul and I have two sons, ages 6 and 8, and our oldest has a rare congenital heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus, Type II that will require repairs to his heart as he grows and throughout his life – barring medical advancement.  To date, he has had two open heart surgeries, one heart catheterization and three exploratory chest surgeries.  We visit his cardiologist here in Wichita, but all of his major interventions must be performed in Kansas City at The Children’s Mercy Hospital. They are fantastic!

I have always been careful with what I share with you on Deal Detecting Diva, trying not to get too personal, while maintaining the “realness” that {I hope!} you love about DDD. I feel that we are friends, if only cyber friends, and I want to give you an update on his condition.

He is scheduled for his open heart surgery in the middle of August.  We will check in to the Ronald McDonald House, have pre-op the next day, then surgery the following day.  Hopefully (if all goes well) we will be on our way home within a week – or less.

As an infant they went into his heart and placed a patch over the large ventricular septal defect (VSD) he had between his ventricles, and placed a conduit to direct the blood flow from his right ventricle to his pulmonary artery.  The conduit is what needs to be replaced with a larger, hopefully adult size, conduit.

I want to let you know – those of you that read DDD on a daily basis specifically – that I may or may not post a lot in the middle of August.  Knowing me and the way I deal with stress, I will take my laptop and post away while he is in surgery, recovery or sleeping in ICU.  My method of dealing with stressful, intense situations is to plug right along, maintaining the schedule and flow.  Paul will not deal the same way I will, and every parent placed in this situation would react differently.  We will not know how this will affect us until faced with the situation directly.

I will have a couple of {awesome} couponer friends on standby to help us with the coupons and deals that week.  Of course, my number one priority is our son and being present for him as he recovers and regains his strength.  I will keep you abreast of all changes and hopefully I’ll snag a happy photo of him for you in recovery.  ♥

Again, thank you for your patience, your support and your prayers.  Knowing this day was coming and having it stare you in the face are two completely different things.

I appreciate you!

Note: I have no photo credit for the Truncus Arteriosus heart diagram above.  It was shared with me on a support group on Facebook. This is the most definitive and easiest to understand diagram I have seen to date.  I hope it helps!