Saving Little Hearts

My Name Is Christian! I Was Born On Dec 5th 2005. I'm Currently 10 Months Old. I'm 18.5 Lbs and am fighting everyday!

I was born With a Congenital Heart Defect "CHD" Called Transposition Of The Great Arteries (My Pulmonary Artery and Aorta Were Switched, I Was Suffocating) I Was Struggling To Breathe But No Matter How Deep Of Breathes I Would Take It Wouldn’t Help!

I Was Rushed To Seattle Children’s (My Second Home Now) Where They Blew Up A Hole "ASD" In My Heart So I Could Get Oxygen To The Rest Of My Body!

11 Days Later I Had Open Heart Surgery To Switch My Arteries Back The Right Way. They Closed The ASD and Found That I Had VSD (Another Small Hole In The Bottom Of My Heart) and Pulmonary Stenosis (Narrowing of My Pulmonary Artery)

So They Waited A While and In Feb 2006 Cathed My Artery Bigger. During The Procedure Though No One Noticed But Something Bad Happened The Anesthesia Was Just To Much For Me To Handle And I Had A Stroke. I Hid It From Everyone For A Few Days... But Then I Started Seizing My Mommy Was So Scared. So Was I!

She Rushed Me To The Hospital & I Got To Go On My First Helicopter Ride! That’s When They Found Out I Had A Secret, I Had Had A Stroke. They Then Diagnosed Me With Epilepsy.

Months Later,

June 2006 They Went To Cath My Artery Again. I Was Able To Get My Right Side Cathed Perfectly and Stinted So It Would Stay Open. But No One Knew My Left Side Still Hadn't Healed From Feb. My Mom Was Sad But She Knows I’m A Fighter!

Other Than That I Recovered In 24hrs From Surgery & Went Home The Next Day. I Even Got To Go To Hooters, And See Horses! It Was Fun!

In Aug 2006 My Mom Dad And I Went On Vacation. I Had Caught A Cold And Cried The Whole Way To Texas. I Felt Bad But My Ears Hurt And I Didn’t Know How To Tell Mommy And Daddy!

I Was Sick For 3 Weeks And Mommy Got Worried So She Took Me To The ER In Early AUG. 2006 and They Found Out I had Bronchitis and A Bilateral Ear Infection. My Oxygen Levels Were Low..In the 70's. So I Got To Stay In A Hospital For 3 Days While On Vacation. It Wasn’t Really Fun But I Got To Ride In A Wagon and Hide From The 112 Degree Weather! He-He!

I Recovered Nicely...

We Are Back Home Now its Oct 2006. And Three Weeks Ago I Got Sick Again. We Thought It Was Just A Cold But After Two Weeks Mommy Got Worried Again And Took Me to My Pediatrician Around the 20th Of Sept. I Didn’t Have And Ear Infection Or Anything. They Thought It Was Just A Cold.

Then A Week Later She Took Me To The ER on Sept 28th. Because I Wasn’t Happy and Wanted To Be Held All The Time. & Had Lost My Voice. They Said I Just Had A Cold And Set Mommy And I Home.

Then A Couple Days Later Mommy And Daddy Took Me Back...But They Couldn’t Find Anything Wrong With Me Again...

But That Night After I got Home I Spiked A High Fever Again Of 104 Earlier That Day I Had Gotten To 103.5. Mommy and Daddy Were Scared.

I Seized With Grand Mal Seizures for 45min-1hr Non Stop.

I Got To Go On My Second Helicopter Ride.

I Went To Children’s Hospital Again, My Second Home. They Found Out What Was Wrong With Me. My Blood Was Hiding A Secret. I Had A Bacteria n My Blood! We Aren’t Sure What Kind Yet..

But I’m A Fighter And Although I Was On A Ventilator and I Was Hurting. I’M STRONG And Fought REAL HARD. So That My Mommy And Daddy Can Hold Me Again !

I Got The Vent Out And Mommy Held Me. It Was Wonderful I Needed My Mommies Arms! I Ate And Even Tried To Take Her Phone. I Still Don’t Feel Good. Its Oct 8th 2006 And I Am Having Trouble Holding My Head Up And Moving I’m Too Weak. But The Docs Are Sure I Will Get Better Just Will Take Time. They Say The Will Probably Never Know What Bacteria Got In My Blood Cause The Blood They Took From Me At The ER Got Contaminated!

I spent a total of 2 exact weeks in the hospital getting better. They never found out what was wrong! But I’m doing lots better now! I got sick again and have been ever since but I went to my pediatrician and he thinks im just allergic to dust mites.

In October I had my first Halloween, I was a vampire.. It was so much fun ut I passed out half way through the houses! And in November I had my first thanksgiving and it was the best! Turkey is really good and my favorite food is mashed potatoes so I got tons of those! Also in November I saw my first snow, That stuff is so much fun, BUT SO COLD! I went out everyday and played in it with mommy and daddy!

I turned one a couple weeks ago! Just before then I start walking on my own, I don’t do it all the time though I still prefer to crawl. It's much faster than me trying to walk! I point at things now, I play "where's the baby" with my mommy and daddy and I love it! I wave bye-bye now too, and still love to meet new people!

I don’t say much so the neurologist are a little bit worried but not much! So they are making take a hearing test Jan 8th! I also have an Echo that day to so soon I will find out when I will be getting my second stint and if I will need another open heart surgery. I pray not but if I must, I will not let it bring me down! I'm strong!

Bye Everyone,

Christian