Musings of a Heart Family: Tommy's Teething!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Tommy's Teething!

Tommy has been so cranky! He has this lousy cough, but no other symptoms. Today, I happened to look in his mouth and realize the root of our troubles...TEETH! He is about to sprout two on the bottom any day now. I can see the little white tops under the gum and feel them with my finger. I should have known, he has been putting the paci in his mouth and biting down as he pulls it out. I just thought he learned to make a new noise and was playing (It makes a popping sound) I gave him a teether and he just went nuts biting it!

Hopefully, any day now he will get them through and be back to his old happy self again!

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Welcome To Our Page

This page is a place for me to empty the thoughts out of my head when they begin to overflow!

I am mom to 4 boys. Our youngest, Tommy was born with complex congenital heart defects, and cricopharyngeal achalasia (poor swallow). He was medically fragile and required a Gtube to eat, a trach to breathe and oxygen 24/7. I started this blog when he was just an infant, blogging about all of the ups and downs of our family.

Sadly, Tommy passed away in August 2008. His heart went into lethal arrhythmia from undiagnosed bronchopneumonia. Our world was shattered. I continue to blog as we adjust to life without our sweet Angel.

Tommy's Diagnosis

Tommy was born 7 weeks premature with a combination of congenital heart defects and a poor swallow. His heart diagnosis is as follows: Double Inlet Left Ventricle with Transposition of the Great Arteries, Pulmonary Stenosis, Ventricle Septal Defect, and Patent Ductus Ateriosis. This is also known as "single ventricle" or "univentricle". It basically means the blood containing oxygen and the blood without oxygen met in one place in his heart, mixed together, and recirculated. This gave him low oxygen saturation levels in his blood. His poor swallow, also know as dysphagia was caused by Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction. The muscle at the top of his esophagus worked sporadically. It caused Tommy to aspirate his saliva into his lungs. For this reason, Tommy was fed exclusively by a feeding pump. Tommy had open heart surgery at 4 weeks old, and because of his poor swallow, he could not make it off of the ventilator for 5 weeks. He required a procedure called a Tracheotomy to breathe on his own. Because of the breathing tube, he developed a condition called severe subglottic stenosis. This is scar tissue below the vocal cords. He could not breathe without his trach. The aspirations caused another condition called chronic lung disease. His brochial tissues were inflamed causing Pulmonary Hypertenison and asthma. He took a combination of medicines and required oxygen 24 hours a day.

Musings of a Heart Family

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Tommy's Teething!

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