Sunday, February 5, 2012

{Heart}

February is Heart Month and Feb 7-14 is Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) awareness month.  A great month to celebrate this little guy...



...who 5 years ago was fighting for his life.


Milo's first diagnosis, before he was even born, was a heart defect.  An aortic coarctation, a very narrow spot in his aorta that prevented blood flow from his heart to areas below his arms.  Little did anyone know, that was just the tip of the iceberg.  At 7 days old Milo underwent a 6 hour surgery to repair the aortic coarctation and his incredibly narrow trachea caused by a Left Pulmonary Artery Sling.  As the days wore on new diagnosis and concerns were being added to an every growing list of critical problems.  Many of his issues were not directly related to his heart but Milo also has very narrow portions of his pulmonary arteries which was causing added pressure in his heart.

Milo's surgery was a success and although the next 16 months were spent in the hospital the scars are now fading.  He came home with a trach and was ventilator dependant but by 2 1/2 those issues were behind him.  He still has a feeding tube but is eating a little bit my mouth now.  He is still followed by a host of specialitst, has had several cardiac catheritizations and now sports a metal stint in his right pulmonary artery.

Above all I am so proud of my little warrior!

It was hard to capture Milo's scar but if you look
closely you can see his trach scar then his heart
scar and abdomen scar that run from his neck to
his bellybutton.
I'm posting this in conjunction with a project on Pintrest (yup, I'm hooked) to raise awareness for Congenital Heart Defects.  Click here to go to the Faces of CHD board on Pintrest to read the stories of many, many people affected by CHD.  It really is inspiring to read all of their stories!