This Kid is RARE

We had the worst night of our lives last night. After they hooked Sam up to the vent, his oxygen levels continued to drop. They gave him medicine after medicine after medicine, and nothing would bring his oxygen up. On top of that, his blood pressure dropped extremely low and they also couldn't bring it back up. Our cardiologist came out to give us the bad news. He told us they were doing everything they could to get him transported to Atlanta, but that they couldn't transport him unless he was stable. He was very honest, and told us that Sam only had a 50/50 chance of surviving long enough to make it to Atlanta.

I died inside. We had about an hour of absolute despair. The cardiologist returned, though, and said that they finally figured out a good combination of meds to keep him stable enough for transport. They wanted to fly him via helicopter but the weather was too bad, so we had to wait for the ambulance from Atlanta (it's like a mobile cardiac ICU). Chris drove on to the hospital and I rode the ambulance with Sam. We got to Egleston Hospital around 800am and they started working on him immediately to figure out what was causing this sudden bottoming out of his oxygen levels.

We just got back from visiting Sam in the CICU. The good news is they know what happened to him last night! He had a 'Tet Spell'...something that usually happens to a whole other group of heart defect patients and RARELY occurs with Sam's defect. It's so rare for Tricuspid Atresia patients, that our cardiologist in Macon didn't even know to look for it (and he is a GREAT cardiologist). Sam apparently has a little extra muscle tissue around the pulmonary valve. Last night, it spasmed, and closed the artery which blocked blood flow to Sam's lungs. They have stabilized him WITHOUT needing to put him on the lung bypass machine, and he may possibly need surgery in the next day or so to cut out the extra tissue so that this doesn't happen again.

The true miracle of this, however, is that this spasm occurred BY CHANCE at the same time we were already at the hospital. It could have just as easily happened in the middle of the night while we were all sleeping. It is also pretty random that we were in the hospital at all...I had just called the cardio to confirm an appointment, not to necessarily complain about Sam's oxygen levels! It also just so happened that one of the best cardiologists at Egleston was on call last night, and between him and our cardio in Macon, they figured out the right combination of drugs and worked together to clear a room for Sam in Atlanta.

For now, Sam is stable. He is still on the vent and sedated, and he will likely remain that way as long as there is potential for surgery. We will know later tonight whether we need that extra surgery to cut out the spasming tissue. I will update as I can. Keep the prayers coming...they are working!

~Kathy